


Derelict

by Unfriendlypairofeyes123



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: ALIENS ARE AMONG US SHEEPLE, Action/Adventure, Alien Abduction, Alien Mythology/Religion, Aliens, Anxiety, Because I suck at it, Bittersweet, Conspiracy Theories, Dark Comedy, Depression, Developing Friendships, Dissociation, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Existential Crisis, Gallows Humor, Gen, Government Conspiracy, Human Experimentation, Mind Manipulation, No Romance, Novelization, Panic Attacks, Paranoia, Past Child Abuse, Perfectionism, Physical Abuse, Physical Disability, Psychological Trauma, References to Schizophrenia, Sarcasm, Self-Destruction, Self-Esteem Issues, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Technology, Terrible Eyesight, Time Powers, Trust Issues, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:07:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22236055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unfriendlypairofeyes123/pseuds/Unfriendlypairofeyes123
Summary: It all started with her fascination with the possibility that extraterrestrial beings are out there, somewhere in the galaxy. The desperate need to escape the existential horrors of her earthly problems pushed her to reach her dreams and desires into the stars and worked for Halcyon for a couple of years. However, instead of the answers she was so hopelessly looking for, Fiona found herself in an uncomfortable situation to help her colonists and save Halcyon after seventy years has passed. As she travels throughout space, Fiona Miller slowly remembers the horrors that she tries to abandon. She must survive with her pixelated eyesight that links to an abstract memory of her so-called "brother". The only thing that can save her now from her self-destruction is the chance to witness the existence of aliens and the people sticking with her along the way.In a nutshell, a novelization of my experience of 'The Outer Worlds' with crappy graphics on.
Relationships: The Captain & Ellie Fenhill, The Captain & Felix Millstone, The Captain & Maximillian DeSoto, The Captain & Nyoka (The Outer Worlds), The Captain & Parvati Holcomb, The Captain & Phineas Welles
Comments: 10
Kudos: 9





	1. I'll Try Living Like This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was going to publish a prologue before coming to Halcyon but I decided not to since you will see all that later in the story. Admittingly, this story will be more serious (well slightly more serious) than the game takes it since it's based on depression I have been dealing with for a while and trying to be more expressive about it instead of closing it (although I rather not go into specific details on my own experience). I also respectfully research the issues that victims have to deal with both mental abuse from childhood and domestic abuse, some things may be exaggerated a little bit for dramatic effects but I do hope that I wrote accurately enough without disrespecting anyone.
> 
> The story does have a bigger story behind the scene in mind although it will most likely appear in other works (possibly outside of this fandom or become original work). I have named this chapter after one of my favorite albums especially since the music on the album seems to be her taste and fits the entirety of the game and this story I have in mind. It's an album not for everyone but I still recommend giving a check.

There was something about the sky that always caught her hopelessly looking up and stare at the vivid blue sky as she watched the puffy white clouds move to pass her inch by inch above the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists have gained much knowledge from the sky or the more academic term “celestial dome” simply from just staring up and observing it. They achieved weather predictions and transportation to fly like a bird. Eventually, humanity went above and beyond the Earth’s limits and made a living in outer space for the name of science.

However, for her, she was simply looking up for tranquility moments of her life. The Earth’s blue sky never disappointed her at her loneliest days on Earth and the first time she ever looked up, she can feel it in her stomach that it was something more out there. It was calling her name ever since she was a little girl and it always guided her to the person she is now. Whenever she looks out of the spaceship’s window, she can see was an endless pit of darkness with sparkling stars bringing light in the cold abyss, simultaneously flowing around the galaxy filled with many mysteries that lie there. Will she be the first to discover those mysteries or realistically, bring light to the public about those mysteries was a thought that she ponders far too often in her breaks. Although as much as she enjoys staring into outer space in her position, she does miss the pretty color-changing sky on Earth. Even on its darkest days, it was something to look upon.

When she closes her eyes as she grips onto her favorite novel, the novel that opened her childish mind forever in ways she never thought to exist. She remembered when her father theoretically gave her this book when she was in the hospital. She had broken her leg in middle school since her sister broke her expensive pair of glasses once again and the moment she tried to find her way to class after the lunch break was over, she was floating in the air. Time was moving slowly as she was floating in midair and a clear picture of the school’s staircase from her memory appears in her mind. After just staring at the sky mindlessly, the reality around her was forgotten for the moment until it was too late. She was unable to remember or see the staircase and realize to herself that she wasn’t floating, but falling.

Time eventually catches up to her and feels the rushing cold breeze swooping on her, landing against the cold stone tiles floor. She quickly landed on top of her left leg and heard a crack noise, she instantly felt the severe pain on her inner leg. She holds onto her leg and hauls in pain as the students laughed at her misstep. However, the laughter soon fades into an uncomfortable silence as the tears running down her rosy white cheeks and noticing her thigh bone pointing out slightly from the back and her leg shorter than before. They couldn’t help but stare at the troubling situation as a teacher tries to pick her up. All she could do was hold onto her leg and moan in agonizing pain. The teacher immediately called the ambulance and the room around her mind spins in circles, slowly shifting into darkness.

She found herself awake in the local hospital and saw her left leg being hung up to the ceiling, covered with a plastic cast. She could barely believe she broke her leg and yet here it was before her eyes.

She heard the door being closed and stood up from her bed, her eyes widened as she realizes the two visitors were: her step-mother and her sister. She hardly has the energy to put up with the two but tries to smile at them as if she was happy to see them. She noticed her step-mother was holding onto a small box as she was on the phone, talking to her father, and her sister examining her leg with an apathetic expression as if she had better things to do.

“James, I finally made it! You wouldn’t believe the insufferable traffic I had to deal with getting to Ashley’s school to this place.” She sighed, “Well, I had to get Ashley from school after hearing she broke her damn leg from losing her glasses _again_. I needed to see if Ashley was at least ok as well, it’s not always about Fiona.” She tapped her foot rapidly and tried to calm down, “Listen, I’ll speak to you when you get home, ok? We will speak about this matter later.”

Fiona desperately wished her and her sister didn’t bother to visit at all, she knew exactly why they came here and they never made her feel any better.

Her step-mother walked up to her, staring her down with her judgment eyes as her sister roamed the area and watching her. She remembers her sister’s words after she broke her glasses: “You'd better not tell if you know what’s good for you.” She simply looked down at herself, waiting for the situation to wash away.

Her step-mother said, “Didn’t I say be careful with your glasses? Your father works hard every day to pay for those glasses and I can’t expect to monitor you all the goddamn time, Fiona. It’s hard enough trying to take care of you regularly since you always have a thousand issues going on with you. This is the sixth time telling you this, every year you always find a way to break those damn glasses.” She grabbed onto the hospital bed railing as she tries to quietly raise her voice in the hospital room, she leans closer to Fiona, “I am _not_ buying you another pair of those glasses, I don’t care what your father says. You’re going to use those damn glasses I found at the dollar store and I don’t want to hear a single complaint about them hurting your eyes, it’s time for you to learn how to appreciate something.” The mother sighed, “Why can’t you be like your sister? Maybe you can learn a thing or two from her.”

“But—.”

“ _But_ nothing, you always find your way to be the main center of attention while your sister is always working hard and being thankful. You have been always the troublemaker since you were born.” Fiona shut her lips tightly as she tries to hold onto her tears, clinging on the bedsheets and her shoulders still up. Her mother never liked seeing her cry and blame her for making her feel responsible for it. The mother leans back from her and fixes her red bob hair, she tossed a silver-blue book onto her lap and answered, “Your father did however bought you this, he has always been too nice for your misbehavior but never gives Ashley a thing or two. You should be grateful to at least have food on the table and a roof over your head, that’s all you’ll ever be getting from me until you change this disgusting behavior. Let this be a lesson on how to behave next time, understand?”

Fiona simply just nodded, looking into her step mother’s cold eyes. She mumbled, “Of course.”

“‘Of course’, what exactly?”

“Of course, ma’am…” She barely made out the words.

“I didn’t hear you, _what_ did you say?”

She can see her sister cover her mouth from her laughter, she was enjoying this far more than she should. She raised her voice and stuttered, “Of course...ma’am…”

She sighed, “Not remotely good enough but it will do for now. Your sister and I are heading out for a bit since the doctors say you’re not ready to go home just yet. Maybe in two days or so, I’m not sure. Your father will be visiting you later, maybe around night?” As her mother and her sister walked toward the door, her mother looked at her with her evil stare, “Don’t get into trouble.”

Those words often and still give her shivers down her spine. She was looking into the old cover once again, tempting to just throw across the galaxy. Her mother always destroyed all the things she loved, even her memories. She wanted to forget the past so bad, she wanted to finally move on but she was afraid that the past will eventually come back and eat her alive. The last time she tried, she found herself stuck in a bear trap and there was no way out of it legally. Of course, this job was her only hope from escaping the eternal hell flames on Earth and luckily, it worked. It was risky, but she wanted to go to Halcyon. She felt in the sky, whispering to her in desperation, all her answers she wanted were there in space.

He didn’t like that, her husband hated that she was leaving him alone and threatened to throw her in the streets “where she belongs” when she comes back. She had to lie right to his face that she was going to be back in a month or two. She didn’t know when exactly she was coming back, but a part of her wishes she never does.

 _'I don’t believe there’s any man who truly loves me,'_ She thought as everyone around her gets into their suits, _'And I don’t care anymore.'_

“Hey, Fiona!” One of the corporate guards yelled at her and walked towards her, this buffed guard titled Andrew Mapleson knew her personally from him watching her carefully eating nasty chemical meals, “Time to get dressed, you don’t want to be late! They’ll be freezing you up in ten minutes!”

She took a deep breath, “Being frozen like a TV dinner?” She looked up at him, “Sounds appetizing.”

He smirked. He always enjoyed these little encounters with her, he playfully hits her arm, “Just shut up and get dressed.”

She smiled to herself and grabbed her suit on the bed, preparing for herself in this new plan the Board planned on. Did she believe it was smart? Probably not, but what choice does she have?

Before the guard left, she answered, “Hey Andrew?”

He turned around, “Yeah?”

She handed the book to him, “Take care of this book for me, yeah?”

He gently grabbed the book and examined it, “I love this book, of course, I’ll take care of it for ya, and if I damage your goods—no refunds.”

She giggled, “You better take good care of it or I’m gonna wake up from here, go straight to your home, and then kick your ass with some martial arts while advertising some bullshit.”

“Oh good god, anything but that! I just can’t _bear_ the thought of walking-talking commercials in front of my door!” They laughed at each other’s jokes, “But seriously, I’ll take good care of it. Now get dressed already, you slowpoke.”

**…**

A piece of relaxing music plays in the background, she can each frequency and beat of the instruments from speakers playing clearly as if the music source was next to her ears. It was one of Seeburg’s 1966 background vinyl music echoing around the room as she can hear some people mumbling about something in a different language. She was too familiar with these kinds of music since her husband plays them all the time loud and clear so the neighbors can barely hear from their apartment room before getting into a big argument. However, she can only see a bright yellow light in front of her eyes as her eyes were forced wide open. She tries to rub her eyes but she noticed her arms were tied down to something. She started breathing heavily as she tried to move her head but her head was strapped down as well.

 _“Alright, this shouldn’t take too long to this, Fiona.”_ She heard a man’s soothing voice, his accent was not American. She believed that he sounded more European, at least she thought it could be European. She never really knew her accents other than the obvious stereotype ones. However, this man’s voice was nothing like any voice she heard before. Her heart stopped for a minute from the melodious tone of this man’s voice and her brown eyes move forward into the bright light become glassy, _“All we have to do is put this in and we’ll be ready to go.”_

“En êtes-vous sûr, M. Williams?” Fiona heard a female’s voice in a concern matter, unable to understand what she’s saying, “Si nous continuons à pousser ses limites plus loin que nous ne le devrions, je crains que nous finissions par la briser fatalement. C'est une possibilité que nous puissions même la tuer si nous ne le faisons pas correctement!”

“Ça ira, Maria. D'après mes calculs,” The sounds of paper flipping over and him tapping onto it, “Tout ce qu'il faut, c'est des directions avec la machinerie et le _boom_! C'est une marguerite facile! Ayez confiance en moi!”

“Mais qu'en est-il de sa santé mentale? Est-ce que ça lui fera plus de mal mental ou—?”

“ _Maria!_ ” The man shouted at her, “S'il vous plaît, faites-moi confiance. Je sais ce que je fais et même si nous échouons, il y aura une prochaine fois où nous devrons recommencer. Une fois que nous avons réussi, nous revenons la réparer, d'accord?”

The female sighed in frustration, “Si tu es sûr, Williams...”

 _“Now,”_ She felt the man’s gloved hands shutting her eyes, falling deep down into darkness, _“Time to rest, Fiona. You don’t need to worry about a single thing ever again…”_

**…**

Fiona blinked twice and slowly adjusted her eyes to tone down the brightness, wiping off the ice particles around her face. Her eyes can finally see normal color again from her recollection, no more bright lights, and darkness. However, she wasn’t sure what was happening to her now with everything around her looking like the room and the person in front of her was slightly bent and blurry around. It made her situation all the more confusing of what’s happening to her and she cannot tell if she should be worried or not right now. She could hear the electrical sparks and the noise of cracking down on the ice. In the distance, she can hear a low buzzing sound in her right ear. Before she can even ponder about it, the buzzing fades away and leaving her mind puzzled.

 _'Maybe, this is all nothing but a procedure we go through.'_ However, there was something about the room that threw her off still. She takes a glimpse around the glowing room as a bright yellow-clothed individual stands in front of her, the person seems shorter than she was which makes her believe she was probably still in the pad. Fiona wasn't the tallest person in the spaceship program or ever in life. As she squints her eyes to look past the individual, spotting her opened pad. She somehow remembered the color of the plastic cushion since it was the last objection she pictured in her mind from recent memory. When she looked away to stare at the individual, she finally noticed black spots floating her eyesight. As soon as she stared directly at the black spots, it moved quickly from her vision.

In this passing time, she was slowly becoming more anxious for answers from this person. The facial features of the person were extremely blurred and more black spots blocking the person’s face. She was familiar with blurry images, that was a side effect of her horrible vision but the people in charge inform them to not wear glasses in case it accidentally glues onto their faces and that their wares will be returned to them once they awaken again. It didn’t make much sense to her since they were wearing a helmet and a suit just to barely prevent them from dying of hypothermia. Imagine the lawsuits they get and her husband going berserk on them. However, the black spots moving around every moment she moves her eyes were brand new. It may be just a side effect from being frozen for a while for people with horrible eyesight but she wasn’t certain about it. She can feel in her guts that there was more out there, more to see than it appears to be.

She was finally free from her hibernation cryogenic chamber, but the question that was lingering in her mind was where exactly was she now. She tries to move her arm but she becomes surprised by the weight of her arm as she drops it down by her side. She must be still cold and being paralyzed in a position for several years. There was no one else around here this location than this aged man in front of her, the man she can finally look at his face to some extent. His face was still blurred and spots covered parts of his face, but she finally managed to get an image of this man to her mind.

Was this the man from her memory? The man with the European accent? She doubted it by the man’s face alone since the man from her mind sounded like a young man in his late twenties. That man made her feel some form of pleasure in her body that she could not explain, the way his voice smooths down on her body with burning and yet peaceful emotions that have been bottled up and his warm-blooded hands felt on her fragile body warms her with overwhelming excitement as she blankly stares into the intense dime light shining in front of her eyes and her eyes desperately want to let go of the tears.

However, she couldn’t question a thing since her lips were closed shut tightly, and all she could do watch the man appearing business until he looked up and realized she was finally awake. He backs away with a smirk across his face. 

“Ah, there you are! Wondering what’s going on, eh? Bit of bad news there, I’m afraid.” Fiona flinched as soon as he slammed the door in front of her eyes. He continues to stare at her through the circular window, “Your colony ship was inexplicably knocked out of skip space and forced to complete its journey at sub-light speeds.” She carefully watches him fixing something, unable to tell exactly what he’s doing, “This means that you—and every other colonist on the Hope—have been in suspended animation for...” He paused for a second, “Seventy years. Give or take.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, she mumbles that can only be audible to herself, “... _seventy_...years?”

Seventy years were wasted by sleeping in a refrigerator her whole life and she was honestly at a loss for words when hearing this. Her mind was spinning around about what she should feel about such crucial detail and remembering her times back at Earth, but all she can express was surprised. She was stunned that all the people she knew and loved (which is a small fraction) were either dead or too old to even remember their name.

A random thought came to mind, something she didn’t expect to have in a long time. “I wonder if my sister has kids by then, I wonder what she did in those seventy years. Has she changed? Has she gotten better than what she was before? Have my parents ever tried to visit me since then? How’s my husband? Is he remarried? Does he think I’m dead?” However, those answers will forever remain unknown. She tries to put her mind at ease, too many things to worry about, and always thinking about the past will kill her. 

She looked back at the man, actively listening to what he has to say again, “Normally, reviving someone after so long leads to some quite horrifying results. It’s called explosive cell death, but it’s really more of liquefaction.”

She was able to let out a long breath and frowned, _'And here I thought things were finally gonna get better for me. Silly me.'_ She thought, _'Me and my god damn luck, I swear.'_

“Something wrong?” He pressed his hand on the glass window with a concerned look on his face.

Fiona answered quietly with her monotone voice, “...everything.”

“Well, aren’t you the charmer?” Her facial expression quickly grew surprised when she realized he actually replied back to her little comment.

Her face grew red and lower her head, attempting to hide her obvious blush under her jet black hair as she looked away from the man, “I...um...I didn’t actually expect you to hear that…” She mumbled, “Sorry…”

He chuckled and noticed her sudden change in demeanor, “It’s okay, I was joking.”

She tries to make a small smile as she hugs herself, getting used to the weight of her arms. She couldn’t help but cringe at the thought of her trying to smile like a normal person would in this situation. She pondered, _'Why couldn’t I just be a normal person like everyone else?'_

“Well, not to worry, I’ve pumped your body full of a special concoction I devised to keep you from dying so horrifically. Hopefully at all, but I guess we’ll see, yes?”

“I dunno, you’ll be surprised the dumb shit I put myself in.” She replied, trying to be back to her monotone self again, “Hell, I may just choke and die because I forgot how to breathe before the exploding head of death gets to me.”

He smiled widely, “Don’t sell yourself short. Recording to this chart, you have a high score on your intelligence. Congrats.”

 _'What the actual fuck.'_ She thought, _'I was for sure that I failed that shit, I barely knew what was on that test half of the time. That’s why I worked as a food tester, all I know is consume chems and write a much of crap.'_

His smile fades away as he answered, “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I must have your help securing more if we’re to save the rest of your fellow colonists.”

She raised an eyebrow, “I don’t understand…” She mumbled to herself, “Why me? Couldn’t you just revive someone else?”

“I would, but unfortunately, I used the last of my chemical supplies saving you.” She nodded, deep down she wished he would’ve saved someone more worthy than her. She couldn’t think of a single thing she was being heroic in her life, let alone the fact she doing something truly for herself, “And besides, the Board has a rather sizable price on my head.”

He flashes a wanted poster with his face on it. Fiona thought, _'Are we heading back to the wild west rules of life or something? I thought we were supposed to be more advanced than that.'_ She shrugged, _'I guess we’re just cowboys except in space, no wonder I haven’t discovered aliens yet. Aliens are looking down on us like wild animals. With guns.'_

“—But I’ve managed to hire a smuggler to help you out.”

 _'That sounds like a great idea, I cannot possibly see anything going wrong with that at all.'_ Fiona thought and sighed, _'I shouldn’t be too hard on the guy, he went out of his way to revive me out of everyone else. There were actual geniuses in there that can figure out how to possibly cure cancer. I’m not retarded, but I am below average compared to those people. I remember some important stuff, but that’s about it. I should be feeling grateful that he did though, maybe he sees something in me that I clearly can’t or maybe he was in a rush and I was the first random choice.'_

“Oh! We’re in position! Good luck!”

She closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind from thinking about the worst case of scenarios like being forced to kill another living thing. She clenched her fists tightly and attempted to stand tall, trying to bottle up all her fears. She didn’t want to disappoint him by looking like a wimp if he used up his supplies to revive her, he was trying to save the other colonists as well and she was his only hope. For once, she just wanted to prove her worth with her own two feet and not be a doormat all of her life. She can feel in the air, it was time for her to let go of those chains and finally be free. Fiona fell below from the ship and witnessed darkness after they had their little encounter where the button wouldn’t work and they just stared at each other awkwardly for half a minute.

She mumbled to herself and holding her hands, quoting from one of her favorite books all the time. It was words that she wanted to remind herself through her hardships journey, “A beginning is a very delicate time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "A beginning is a very delicate time." The quote is from a novel named Dune by Frank Herbert. To be fairly honest, I have never read the book but I have been interested in it since there's a movie of it by the same creator of Twin Peaks. I usually want to read the book before watching the movie. I'm not sure I'm going to keep that last line, to be honest, but I didn't have a better way to end it at the time being.
> 
> Although, I'm still split between giving out the translation of that part or not.


	2. The Sky is Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to take a break from the story. I have been suffering from some writer's block. Also, my main computer had stopped working for a bit because Windows 10 and I'm a fucking idiot. I ended up losing some important notes for the story but thankfully, the main story was secured (for now).
> 
> Anyways, this chapter is goofier than the first chapter. It doesn't have to be constantly doom and gloom in this story and I do want to shine Fiona's light-hearted side so people can warm up to her. I made her a melee character since I rarely have one (although I admit, I did kinda regret it when I first saw the science weapons especially the shrink ray). She'll occasionally use guns though as the story goes on (mostly pistols though). I am hoping I can add additional moments outside the game that fits the game though. I don't want to be just copied and paste the story of the game but with an alien conspiracist and obscene references.

Her ride down was too surreal for her liking. The thought of being this close to space and the potential of the door just being randomly opened and die makes her panic for a bit. The pad walls were closing in on her, taking every bit of oxygen from the inside of the pad. She closes her eyelids as the sweat runs down from her palms and attempt to dream somewhere, anywhere but right here.

Unfortunately, she often dreams about flying around in space. The green aliens abducted her and then she always spots herself in a maze full of alien goo and little alien animals. She was being watched by an unknown and yet powerful figure, whispering in her ears of language beyond any man. She always attempted to cover her eyes from the horror and inhumane images she was witnessing and try to find her way out of the maze. She sometimes gives up and starves herself to death at the dead-end of the maze. Other times, she met other humans but only for them to feast on her flesh like savages. Most of the time, she usually finds the end of the maze. Exhausted, starving, dehydrated, and can barely breathe with her ripped clothes from all the trials she had to endure. She stumbles to a tall door full of silver hexagons, she barely can push the door open and begin to cry out for God, himself. When the door was finally open, she dropped her knees on the ground and looked up for a shining light of joy. Possibly a sign of God himself, smiling upon her. However, instead, she was rewarded by being sucked into a black never-ending hole. A hundred years of life go after her faster than the speed of light as the darkness begins to consume her soul and her body slowly becoming into thin strings, transforming into nothingness. Her body was too exhausted to scream or call for help, instead she painfully watches her body shifting into something unrecognizable and then pure darkness.

She opens her eyes and still only sees nothing but stars. The void of outer space glares at Fiona and filling her with existential distress in her heart, she can only glare back at the void and her body stands still. The man’s voice fades into the background as her mind were removed from the scene. Her eyes desperately wander elsewhere, trying to escape the situation. She watches the ship crashing down and has a white light flash before her eyes.

Fiona has finally landed on the ground again and she regained her poor sight from the flash. The thing she had on sight appeared to be a moon in the center of her circular window, it looked so close to her unlike anything back at home. She was almost fantasized about the range of the moon, but she couldn’t just sit here and think about it all day. She noticed gray boulders of rocks, no, more like a metallic ship when she looked closely up to the window. She honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the two.

Electrical sparks fly all over from the terrible damage and almost landing on her face, she wondered if there was a safer way to do all this. She looked up and spotted colorful glowing buttons above her, she mumbled to herself, “I really hope I can open this thing and not have to die because I couldn’t figure out how to let myself out.”

As she randomly pressed some buttons, the pad’s door opened itself and she sighed in relief, breathing in the fresh air. She was surprised that the land had oxygen to breathe, she was expecting the land to be inhabitable in the first place since many other planets are full of other types of gases. “Thank goodness for dumb luck.” She lifted herself from the pad and looked around. She barely tells the world apart than the land was green and bright, there were almost white fluffy plants around from noticing a color difference and the water was possibly the purest blue water she has ever seen inland or since New York with black spots blocking her way. Her sight only leaves her with confusion, “Damn for horrible sight though.”

“Ah, you’ve landed! Good!” She heard the excitement in his voice, “Hawthorne should be close by.”

She turned behind her and saw the poor man buried down to her pad with his blood smear over. She felt extremely guilty over killing a man despite him being a smuggler. She forces herself a smile and thought, _‘At least I can finally tell my sister that the cat wasn’t the only thing I accidentally killed now.’_ The joke only made her feel more guilty and disgusted by her skin though, _‘God, I always attached bad luck onwards to others every time. I am a bad omen…’_

“Is that him? That idiot—I told him to plant the beacon and move away, not stand there holding it.” His words didn’t comfort her whatsoever even if it was the man’s fault for standing there, “Oh well, no time to have his ship go to waste.”

She said to the man as she began to slowly walk the area, “You know, it would’ve been nice if you at least gave me a pair of glasses before landing me on an alien planet. I can’t tell a single difference other than possible large mountains with rocks and these weird white plants.”

“Well, I would’ve but you never asked.”

 _'Fuck, he got me there.'_ She pondered and returned to the man, “Well, I would’ve but I couldn’t tell if this was real life or if it was just fantasy.” She hums to herself, looking away distantly, “ _Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality._ ”

“I can still hear you…”

She snapped out of it, “I-I know that I couldn’t resist though.” It was one of her favorite songs after all. 

“Well, I did check into your medical history and I thought it wouldn’t be a problem since it says it here that you have perfect 20/20 vision.”

“Huh?” She raised an eyebrow and stopped walking, “That’s impossible! I have had horrible eyesight since pre-school! There’s no way in hell I suddenly had a perfect vision! Hell, I’ll argue that my eyesight has gotten _worse_ since I was revived. I have been seeing some black spots every time I move my eyes and I don’t think it’s getting any better. Also, the world seems a little...bent, I think? It’s been off somehow.”

“Huh…” The man paused for a second as she heard him writing notes, “It could be just a side-effect from long-term frosting, but I’ll keep that in mind. They usually call those kinds of eyesight problems named “floaters”. All I want to know is why would they lie about your vision? Have you informed them beforehand?”

“Of course I have, why wouldn't I?"

“Well then...that is a mystery…”

The first thing she thought and mumbled to herself as she continued walking her narrow path, _“Aliens… It must be aliens...”_ There was no other logical conclusion to her when it came to her mystery about her eyes, maybe it was aliens who took her into that room and those people were speaking in an alien language. But why her eyes particular and what were they doing to her in that room was the true mystery. Maybe there was more to uncover besides the colonists, maybe it was to uncover an alien conspiracy that the government has been covering all these years. Maybe aliens are using the colonists as their experiment? The only thing she can do is go forward with this man’s plan, better to be safe than sorry when aliens come into play.

“I wouldn’t go as ridiculous as aliens, but it could be some kind of government conspiracy or better yet, just a simple mistake on your documents.”

“I like the aliens better _—but_ , they’re working for the government.”

“Well, if that suits your fancy.”

She spotted a corpse of a strangely-dressed man with his legs chopped off with blood all over the place near a campfire. Her heart pumps normally but she knows that she should be feeling something, disgust at least. However, she felt nothing more but empty. There were so many more important matters to worry about than just a dead man and she has a feeling she needs to get used to it through her journey. Especially if she is going after aliens, in which she is expecting a lot of human corpses in her way. She noticed when she walked towards the man, his body became highlighted for her, and easier to spot him. It was very strange, almost reminded of her old job before Halcyon but it could be just her eyes messing with her again. She placed her hand in the man’s pocket and grabbed upon a figure of a syringe. She pulled it out of his pocket slowly, in case the man wasn’t dead yet, and opened to reveal the item.

It was one of those Adreno, she used to love these back in her time with her husband. They always instantly heal her more physical wounds, it wasn’t much but it was still there and she was forbidden to use it when she caught with crack cocaine on her. Instead, she was forced to go through rehab for her husband’s sake.

She thought, _‘There’s no one around to stop me now.’_ She put the syringe in her pocket, surprised that she even had one in these suits.

“You know, I’ll like to see hard evidence on those alien claims though. I never actually met someone like you before. A true believer of alien life, at least highly intelligent ones.”

She smirked, “And I attended to, trust me. There’s bound to have some secrets that the government has been working with those aliens for a long time, longer than we have been born or even the people in charge have been born. Who knows how far back it goes?”

He chuckled, “Well, let me know when you find this evidence. I’ll be very fascinated with what you come up with. I don’t doubt that there may be some weird experimentation to the colonists though.”

“Well—.” She paused as she heard the clear huffing sounds of an animal, she turned around and squinting her eyes to her left direction. She saw a couple of red and purple feathery animals on a small hill and eating something, definitely not birds but their size and behavior acted more like a dog than anything else. She crouched down to her knees and looked up at the animals as quickly walks past them, she wasn’t too bad at sneaking around. She remembers how she got away from stealing a couple of cookies in the jar and thankfully, her sister never discovered it or realized the cookies were gone until it was too late.

She slipped between the rocks and carefully dropped down into the cave before the wild animals could notice her. She looked up behind her, watching if the animals were following her trail.

 _‘Nothing, good. I don’t know how I can take it if I have to actually fight something to death, I have no combat skills. I just know whenever I’m really pissed I start randomly punching stuff aimlessly. It works every time with my sister.’_ As she slowly walked forward in the well-lit cave and her foot meets the small pond, suddenly she hears a loud ringing in her ears. She instantly covers her ears, believing some loud explosion causes this until her head begins to throb in pain. Her vision shifts into a white image and her eyes were stinging badly. She closed her eyes and rubbed it slightly to lose the irritation of it. Her heart was racing rapidly and she began to panic, knowing all of this is unusual behavior. Maybe this was the exploding head of death that he was talking about, maybe she was going to die right where she stands.

She collapsed on her knees and tried to catch her breath, her chest was closing in and her sweat falling on her pale skin. She was feeling the world weighing her down as it moves around steadily and the ringing gets louder to her ears. She opened one of her eyes and noticed a green small creature staring at her blankly. Their gazes met each other, looking into the alien creature with distress. In the animal’s doll-like eyes, she saw a reflection of her. Her face was turning red and she can feel her mind ready to explode any minute now. A part of her was ready to meet death with open arms for a long time, there was no point to go on now that everyone she knew was dead and there was no one to hold her back now. However, something drags her back into the world. Not a part of her, not new cause to live on but something inside of her that takes that choice away from reaching death. Suddenly, her horrific vision was back but she saw a purple fade around the edges of her vision for half a second as the animal ran away. She coughed, trying to catch her breath at the current time.

She thinks alone, _‘What the hell just happened?’_

She slowly got up from the ground, trying to find a reasonable answer for such a strange encounter. The mysterious man spoke up, “Easy now, you've been frozen for a while. There’s bound to be some side effects.” She hears some static coming from his end or possibly her end, she cannot tell.

“Including giving death, itself a high five before you politely leave and the worst case of horrible eyesight. Now I wish I can time travel to yell at myself to _not_ go into the cryogenic sleep and consider the option to politely kill myself instead.” She noticed a dead end of the cave, she looked down and knew it would be a long drop. She was going to have her legs broken again, but it was the only way to process somewhere. She mumbled to herself, “Fuck it.”

She hopped down and mentally prepared herself for her legs to be broken again, this time she wasn’t going to cry about the insufferable pain. There were too many other things to cry about nowadays. As she landed on her feet, she heard a small crack from her feet. She still grunts in pain, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was. She looked down at her legs, wiggling them around. They were moving around and she didn’t spot her bones being deformed, she was ok. However, from the fall, she noticed a little something about her legs. Not a lot of people knew this about her but her legs were slightly uneven since her left leg was broken. Her left leg was always shorter than her right but it barely gave her the trouble in life until now. Her legs were now completely even from one another and it worried her for a bit.

 _‘This cannot just be a fucking side-effect from that, it has to be some alien experiment. I don’t know what those green bastards are doing with my body, but I’m not having it right now. I’ll expose those bastards, just watch. I’m no sheep, I know what’s exactly going on here.’_ As she walked through the cave, she also noticed the pain was slowly healing away. _‘Definitely an alien experiment, there’s too much weird shit going on with me and say “it’s a side-effect”. Bull-fucking-shit.’_

She walked forward into a small group of orange lights from afar only to realize it was a group of barrels blocking her path. She bends down to her knees to closely look into the label saying “Caution! Explosive!”.

“Hey, you. Come here.” She heard a soft-spoken young man talking to her. She turned around and spotted a man sitting down on a metal crate, holding onto himself in pain.

It would’ve been rude for her to ignore an injured man, but she doesn’t know his true intention was. She took one step at a time with a cautious mind, wondering if he was luring her into a trap. However, a thought came into mind and she wondered what he would gain from attacking her. She had nothing on her but Adrenos and some inhaler unless Halcyon suddenly became a nuclear wasteland and they’re extremely valuable now.

Looking at his face up close was almost similar to seeing the aged gentleman, blurred and confusing look at for too long. It almost made him look inhuman or his face hasn’t been fully made yet. She ignores the annoyance of her new eyesight that has been giving her and focuses on the man. He mumbled something, it sounded like a simple advertisement to a company.

 _‘How bad did life become where people reference a slogan of a company in their dying breaths?’_ She thought. She pressed her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes down at the man, and stood tall. She barely knew a thing or two about being intimidating (otherwise fewer people would’ve bullied her) but she tries to think what made her husband and her mother terrifying people. She answered with her dry and dull tone, “What do you want?”

He wasted no time answering her, “Need some help, we were out on patrol and then some marauder camp up in the hills. Thought I could take ‘em. Gun misfired,” He smirked to himself, “What are the odds of that, huh? And then—.”

“Please, just get to the point where I can get the hell out of here and never talk to you again.” A little too blunt for her taste, she immediately felt sorry she said such a thing as she can see the man looking hurt by her words. She sighed and softened her voice, “Listen, I’m sorry. That was rude of me to say that and you were just trying to help. It’s just that I’m on a schedule here and I don’t want to be late.”

“Well, you can’t leave. I block the exit with those canisters right there so if marauders running up here, I can take them all out with one single shot. Pretty neat, huh?”

She nodded, it explains why the canisters are in the way. She glares back at the canisters, pondering what was her next move. A sudden bright idea came into mind although admittingly, it was quite mischievous. She returned her gaze at the man and questioned him with a small smirk at the corner of her face, “Hey, can I borrow your gun right quick?”

“Why?”

“I'm a gunsmith, I need to see if your gun is working just fine. You don’t want misfires when they come and climb on top of those barrels, do you?”

“Well... Spacer’s Choice guns are thirty percent less likely to malfunction now but you seem trustworthy enough and know a thing or two about guns. Yeah, you’re right.” He nodded and reached his gun from his pocket, “Here you go.”

“Cool.” She grabbed the pistol and examined it closely, it looked fine enough but that wasn’t the reason why she needed it. Before he could ask, she quickly aimed at the barrels and shot it without a thought, hearing the bang and feeling the small kick from the pistol. It was her first time shooting a gun, in fact, it was the first time even touching a real gun but she doesn’t have the time to waste.

She can hear the loud explosion coming from here as he heard the man who saved her commenting on the explosion before losing him from static. Before the man on a crate can comment, she sprinted forward to the exit and yelled at him, “Sorry, but I really needed your gun!”

As she walked towards the end of the cave, feeling the sunlight shining against her face. That loud ring in her ears interrupts her once again. She pressed her hand against her chest, trying to breathe correctly. _‘Is God punishing me for taking his gun and ran with it?’_

She looked around her surroundings, hearing a voice somewhere but can barely care from her trouble breathing until the world stopped for a second. Her breathing was finally back to now, however, the world around here was frozen still. Her eyes widened open, her body stood still and looked around here. She barely believes what she was seeing. She can the birds up in the sky holding and she turned her body to see a couple of frozen people staring into the fire.

She looked down at her hands and wondered, _‘Am I doing this? Is the world holding still because...me?’_ Looking around the area and being the only person aware of this happening to her, she can only believe she was the only person who was seeing this, believing this. _‘Am I an alien? Have I been an alien for a long time?’_ She shook her head, _‘No, it cannot be. I know what I am! But maybe it’s part of the experiment, maybe the aliens gave me this mutation to pause time or at least possibly slow down. But why, why do this? Why give a simple human this abusable ability? Maybe it may be one of the oldest editions to this power and aliens have far superior time dilation, but why me?’_ She looked up at the sky as the sun shines in front of her eyes, _‘Why me?’_

She finally snapped out of her monologue as time returned to the current pace, returning her glare upon the two strange men near the campfire. She crouched behind the tall tree, breathing heavily. The men dressed up similar to the one up on the hill, reminded about the marauder that the injured man spoke about. Still, she has no desire to be arrested with manslaughter. She was already almost sent to prison for drug possession, physical assault, and possibly drug abuse. 

She stood up from the tree, holding to her gun tightly. She carefully walked down the hill, scranning around the grassy location. She approaches the two people with her heart racing quickly, they stare at her, unable to tell what they’re expressing through their masks. She thought, _‘This may be my greatest mistake I have ever made since the cat.’_

Both of them immediately ran up to her, raising their hands with a saber. She quickly walked behind, raising her gun towards him. Unfortunately, the black spots made it hard to see her targets and them moving all over the place. She aimlessly shoots them, desperately attempting to shoot them. As she backs away from them up the hill, she tries to figure out how she exactly triggers her ability. Was it her breathing or rather lack of breathing that trigger it or was the power that randomly appears when she least needed it? The marauder grabbed her hand and began to twist her wrist.

 _‘Why didn’t I shoot where I was? That’s what a smart individual will actually have done.’_ She bites down the man’s hand off and kicks his stomach as hard as she can. She begins to squeeze her left hand on the gun’s handle and noticed time has finally slowed down. She quickly shoots down one of the marauders and aimed towards the other before time caught up.

Before the other marauder can blink, she shoots him down with all the ammo she could use before the last one collapsed on the ground, dead.

She took a long, deep breath and sat down on the ground. Her entire body was sweating down like pinballs and she was shaken through the fight. She mumbled, “Next time, I just let some random person kill people for me. How the hell am I supposed to survive like this? I can’t see anything and I don’t know how to shoot. I was lucky that those folks didn’t have a gun, but what about those with a gun? I cannot fight them off, I'm as good as dead…” She stood up from the ground and walked towards the corpses, she noticed a brand of saber sword laying on the ground next to the bodies.

She slowly grabbed upon the sword and examined it closely, the sword gave her the memory of an old friend of her back in high school. When she took her summer trip with her senior friends to Las Vegas, a beautiful light brown haired girl always talked about particular martial art she wanted to learn. The art of silat was the martial art of being as quick as lightning and blade weapons can be used with it. Staring upon this sword, not sure if silat can be used with a saber or not. She did a study that fencing was more ideal for a saber for one of her stories, but she can hardly remember anything about it. She knew only hand full of art and even if she barely knew about the arts, she already ran out of bullets with her pistol and this was her best thing to protect herself.

 _‘Even if I do die in the fight, at least it’s better than a pointless death.’_ She sighed before returning her mind to the bodies with one simple thing, _‘Now, let’s see what they had here…’_ After all, she was always a hoarder in the heart.

**...**

After taking every item she felt in her small bag that she made using the marauder’s clothing. It took her a while to figure out how to make it with a horrible attempt of her custom made sewing needle and wasting hours having one rag into a couple of threads. But with her hardship and almost burst into tears about the hours she wasted, she managed to do it well enough. Giving her some hope that she may be able to survive this alien planet after all. Hell, she even learned how lockpicking works in this world with its’ unearthly lockpicks. She was still questioning how exactly it worked while walking towards the ship with a saber in her right hand. She took a small thirty or so minutes, learning how to swing, thrust, and block with saber more effectively. She couldn’t waste all her time here, unfortunately.

She pulled her sleeves from her hibernation suit, the hours she had put to make this bag made her worn-out by the sun shining upon her, and just wanted to be in a cool building with the air conditioner on. She placed the gun, the extra saber, food, and Adreno in the pouch. Fiona put the simple mining gas mask on those marauders left, tying down the mask from the back. Some people can say she was going overboard right now, but those people she knows will probably be dead by now. She got lucky that she survived that encounter and with luck like hers, she knew that she wouldn’t be that lucky again. If she learned anything from hours of roguelike gaming with a crafting system is that if you ever have the opportunity to better yourself in your current position before heading out as much as you can, you better goddamn take it or be killed off somewhere and throw a chair across the room. 

_‘Better safe than sorry, I guess.’_ She shrugged and began to walk off to the ship. As she walked down the hill, she spotted two more marauders ahead and lean closer behind the large rock. She crouched down as she watches every step they make and thinks, _‘How the hell did they not notice me for all those times I wasted? Are they stupid or are they humanoid alien creatures?’_

As soon as they looked behind them, she ran towards the bushes and hid amongst them as her eyes were able to look through the bush. She wasn’t going to begin how or why her eyes do such a thing, but it was the most useful thing her eyes have ever done along with the ability to sense the two marauders apart from each other. She rapidly snuck behind one of them and took a quick deep breath before throwing a swing with the saber as the blade of the saber sinks deep through his armor into the man’s torso. The man moans instantly in pain and before turning around, she rapidly thrusts the sword inside his stomach continuously until the man drops the floor and the blood floats down the dirt from the stab wounds.

She rushes back into the bushes as soon as she hears one of them walking towards her direction. She had little time to worry about how she was about to kill a man with a sword, her mind was too fixated on watching each step of two marauders was examining around the perimeter. Having the warm blood dropping on the grass felt as she breathes heavily from her gas mask, puzzling how she will exterminate the two being with her saber as if she had done this a thousand times. Her broad up eyes became clear without her realizing it while the two marauders finally found the body she left behind. As both of them investigate the body, Fiona bends down and swiftly ran up to one of the closest marauders.

She squeezes her left hand, having time slow down for her as she thrusts the saber into his back several times and quickly dies from her simple stab. She drops the body aside as time is forced to returns regularly as the marauder spots her near his already dead companion. She quickly ran up to him as he reached his gun and aimed towards her. She swings the sword into the marauder and grunts from the pain before shooting her on her shoulder. The bullet enters clean into her shoulder, but her mind couldn’t focus on a bullet wound. She threw another sway at the man in the opposite direction, causing him to bleed from the sharpness of the saber. She pushes the sword inside of his chest, throwing a final blow to the man before his last glare upon this woman. She pulls the sword out of his chest and watches the marauder drop dead onto his ground along with his friends.

She removed the mask from her face, trying to breathe from the melee combat she had to endure. She can barely believe she had done that to them without panicking, barely had a scratch on her. Well, except the single bullet one on her shoulder which only mildly hurt surprisingly. She turned to her left shoulder, seeing where the bullet enters her. It was probably unwise to do this with no proper doctor to remove the bullet and bandage her up, but she couldn’t think of any better answer to the situation at the moment. She didn’t know how many marauders were out there and she doesn’t need any more bullets in here. She reaches towards the bullet towards the small wound, her eyes can see where the bullet lands on her shoulder and luckily, it wasn’t far enough. She pulled the light bullet from her shoulder and looked at it closely. It felt so surreal just staring upon something that could’ve easily killed her and then just feel absolutely nothing towards it. She looked up at the sky, questioning to herself, what exactly happened to her on that ship?

She grabbed the Adreno and pressed it inside the wound, she hisses a little from the medicine healing her insides slowly. She removed the now empty syringe from her shoulder and tossed it aside. She stared at the wound once again, seeing it slowly close itself. She can hope the medicine is as easy as they advertise it is.

She grabbed everything she wanted from bandits, including the bullets for her gun, and continued walking off the distance. She’s not sure if she was going to keep using the saber until she has enough bullets for the pistol, but looking at her odds with her survival with the saber seems higher than the gun. Guns are loud and it easily alerts people even just hiding from the distance, she rather takes her odds with the sword instead. Hoping she can finally come across the damn spaceship he was talking about. “This better be the best damn spaceship that man has ever created or I’m gonna scream from the top of my lungs.”

As she hopped down off of a small cliff of stone and spotted what appears to be the ship the man was speaking of, she heard a female voice coming from the distance shouting at her. “Hey, get over here before you get yourself killed!” She was shunned by the random voice for half a second and scan around the area where the voice came from, having a hard time seeing any difference in the world. She couldn’t see if there were people around the spaceship at this distance. “Over here, lady, what are you blind?”

As she spotted two green figures that she used to dismiss as grass, she now looked close to realizing it was actual people there. Completely embarrassed by how long it took to figure it out, she forcibly moves her body towards them and trying to pretend everything was fine.

“Don’t know where you came from, stranger, but you best keep your head down. Marauders are kicking about here. And worse, landing violators!”

Fiona completely zoned out of the woman’s complaint about illegal parking and not using a specific brand that she believes the lieutenant wouldn’t benefit from. However, she didn’t want to fight all those marauders hanging about. _‘Sure, I survived those five marauders, but would I survive three more? Probably, probably not, I’m not taking a risk. I’ll just let them deal with it, after all, it is their fucking job to do it.’_ She answered the woman, “Psh, if you think that’s bad, wait until you hear this! _The sky is falling!_ ”

The lieutenant looked at her shockingly, “The sky is falling? Like hell, I believe that.”

“Don’t you notice anything different about the _sky_? They say that the ship has aliens from outer space! If you don’t do something quickly, who knows when they will take over this colony!” For a minute there, Fiona almost believed her lies.

However, the lieutenant laughed at her statement, “Aliens from outer space? Yeah right…”

Fiona sighed and turned to a new approach, “Well fine then, just let the marauders have it. I don’t care, it’s not my problem. I’m sure they will love their new resort though and cause thousands of damages at your company’s property that’s coming from _your_ paycheck. Best of all, you wouldn’t be able to find the person since those bandits are going to be gone in seconds and all your answers would’ve been all in that ship. But no, let’s just get some fresh air as we watch them hopelessly. May as well bring popcorn and a chair to sit down, it may be a long one.”

The lieutenant sighed, raising her rifle and turned to her private, “She’s right, we cannot have those marauders lay a single hand on that ship. I’m going to find the bastard and it’s gonna be fucking laminated!”

Fiona smirked to herself, she’s finally figuring out how her sister’s persuading skills at work, “Good, I’ll be...somewhere else…”

She stands there out of their way as she watches them shooting the marauders. She thinks, _‘Well, I’m sure that they got this all under control. Better them than me, I guess. They’re actually trained professionals for these situations.’_ As she witnessed both the private and the lieutenant strike down along with two marauders and the feathered creature. They left only one single marauder left by the ship, holding onto a bladed weapon and lapping towards the ship. She inhaled and exhaled the air through her nose, “Sometimes, I just need to shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I have no idea how to feel about this chapter. There were a couple of things I enjoyed writing though. I may re-edit it in the future (or sooner than someone can blink).


	3. Hollow Kingdom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just been a bad year for me. Every time I publish something, bad things happen to me. Is it outlandish to think that? Yeah, but I can't help but feel like that when it appears to be validated multiple times. That's why I haven't been releasing any chapters. Also, I have been getting into Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines again especially since there's finally a sequel coming up. I may do a retelling of it as well, but I have been trying to work on my voice and video editing.
> 
> Anyways, enough of my self-pity, here's more self-pity from my character instead.

The last marauder has been easily defeated by herself with the curve of the blade slit his throat off after sneaking behind him for a minute. She was surprised how easy anyone with light steps can just swoop behind someone and in an instant, they’ll be lying on the floor, hopeless and dead without anyone else hearing a sound in the air. The art of close-range combat was marvelously fascinating and terrifying. Her packrat instincts took whatever the corpses have, she always needed to carry everything, even useless junk ever since she first played a survival game. That and her older sister always destroying her items when they were kids. She always answers to herself while collecting these items, “Just in case.” 

She looked up at the ship’s door, no one to distract her from going inside now, and yet she didn’t know how to prepare herself with when she did go inside. She can only wonder what can be awaiting her there.

 _‘Actual aliens?’_ She thought, _‘Probably not.’_ She looked at the sky, realizing the sun was just about to set and the night was an uprising. With hardly any food and water from taking all the marauders’ stuff and most importantly, no shelter to protect her, she can only return her gaze to the door. She took a deep breath and headed forward towards the metal rusty door. _‘But do I really have a choice?’_

She opens the spaceship’s door and steps her foot inside the doorway, attempting to hear any slight noise in her hearing range. She reaches half her body inside the cool ship as she examines the room around her. She saw an antique plate camera against the metallic wall, it was staring right at her direction with a circular sign above that she could not read. Fiona scans around the area location and other than the camera, no signs of red flags as far she concerns. She placed her whole body inside the building and watched the door closed behind her, her heart began to race quickly and her body became jittery.

She took another step in the spaceship and heard a female robotic voice, “Please be informed that this vessel contains no valuable plunder. Unauthorized access to space-faring vessels is a crime. Please submit yourself to the authorities.”

Fiona enters the center of the ship and inspects around the room, trying to track down where the voice was coming. She mumbled something under her breath and smiled for a second, remembering what happened in the yard, “Yeah...about the authorities…”

She turned to her left and witnessed an open wide room, the shelves were filled with metallic crates and a yellow ladder that leads to the second floor. She clings to the saber tightly aside from her hip and prepares to clench her left hand as she steadily takes each step inside the crated room. She spotted a makeshift bed right between the crate shelves and turned to her left, there was a workbench with robotic arms attached to it.

She walks towards the workbench and squints her eyes to analyze the details upon the object. That one thing came into her mind as she tried to study it, _‘I have no idea what I’m looking at, nor do I know how it works.’_ Fully aware that was a workbench that may be able to repair selective objects, but that was about all her mind can expand from. Next to the workbench was a particular shotgun and a small box filled with weapon parts for shotguns and pistols that rests on top of rectangular objects that she could not identify. _‘And they say no valuables were lying about.’_

She took the objects into her makeshift pouch and heard the return of the robotic voice, “Marauder, please be informed that ignoring me is dangerous for your health.”

She answered loudly, looking above the ship, “Marauder? Do I look like one to you? I don’t even dress the part and their fashion sense is _horrible_. I have at least twice the intelligence than they can grasp, couldn’t even make it through the door.”

“Two times zero is still zero, marauder.”

She clenches her fists and grits her teeth, she marches out of the wide room. “Oh, that’s it, no more Mr. Nice Guy. I’m going to shut you down for good, you little machine. No one insults me and gets away with it.” She paused for a second, realizing something, “Well, except like ten other people or even more than that but that doesn’t really matter anymore because they’re dead.”

She entered a small red room with wires on the floor attached to machines. A red lavish high back office chair with a small pillow to support one’s head. A comfortable chair to sleep on during the long and boring days at an office job, giving her a memory of the hours she wasted writing a very crucial article about the twenty best gaming chairs of the year urgently and forced to repeat this horror every year just after the holidays. She was hoping she at least repressed those memories from the back of her mind forever or possibly the aliens that were experimenting on her took it with them. The chair faces a regular computer with a red screen of a stylish short-haired apathetic woman.

Fiona scowled at the computer and marched towards it, having her arms crossed across her chest. “Got anything left to say before I shut you down, you machinery?”

The machine answered with its monotone, “Please be informed that I am authorized to use violent retribution against unwanted solicitors. Please return any misappropriated equipment, and exit this vessel in an orderly fashion. Failure to do so will result in your immediate destruction.”

Fiona rolled her eyes, “Do it, I dare you.”

“Please prepare yourself for lethal deterrence.” Fiona was prepared, alright. The female’s eyes widened in the image of the red screen, making Fiona skip a heartbeat for a second. “Jettison procedures initiated. Disengaging airlocks. Preparing to eject all boarded parties in: Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

Fiona taps her foot rapidly, preparing herself for any sign of danger. Fortunately, the only thing that was any real danger was how loud the alarm sounds were. “Yeah...I’m still here, you know?”

The computer frowned, “I can see that. My deception protocols have failed. I have been programmed to express disappointment.”

“Yeah, well so was my step-mother while raising me.” She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, “Listen, I need this ship to get going. I got a business to attend and aliens to witness.”

“I am incapable of accepting orders from anyone other than Captain Alex Hawthorne.”

 _‘I guess I have to break the bad news, I’m not sure she will believe me or not.’_ She took a deep breath, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but he’s dead. He was supposed to meet me when I landed, but instead, my escape pad crushed him to death.”

“I understand.” A moment of silence passes through the room, “I will require some time to process this information. Thank you for your patience, and for your honesty.”

“I’m surprised, how do you know I’m not lying so that I can be able to ride this ship?”

“I can detect it from your heart rate, your body language, and the wrinkles you construct on your facial features.” Fiona rolled her eyes, “Aside from that, the shift of your voice from a monotone sarcastic tone to a sincere soft-spoken tone and even just bringing this question up.”

She nodded, “I see…”

“I am programmed to take orders exclusively from Captain Hawthorne. If I accept your orders, then you must be Captain Hawthorne. Do you understand?”

Fiona nodded, “Yup, gotcha ya.”

“That is good. Unfortunately, our engine is currently inoperable.”

“You know,” She sighed, “Why does life have to be so unnecessarily complicated?”

“I don’t know, that is something you need to answer for yourself. The main drive’s power regulator has been irreparably damaged, and must be replaced.”

“Well, looking around the area and needing a part like that, I doubt it will be just lying down in the garage sadly.”

“Astutely observed.” For once, the computer seems to express an impression towards Fiona. “However, the probability of locating a power regulator within a worker settlement falls within acceptable parameters of certainty. High-capacity power regulators are sometimes employed in the electrical networks of worker settlements.”

Fiona begins to respond to the machinery sluggish, “Just hurry it up already, I just want to go to bed. I had a long day of making this piece of a shit pouch.”

“Here is your new Captain’s Identity Cartridge, you’ll be needing it for your journeys. Please try not to lose it this time.”

Fiona raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean--you know what, I don’t care.” She grabbed the cartridge from the printer and looked at it, the cartridge identified her as the man who has now passed on--Alex Hawthorne. “Thanks.”

“Best of luck in your search for a power regulator once you awaken up from your slumber, Captain. Try to stay alive this time.”

She shrugged and started walking forward to the stairs, “No guarantees.”

**…**

She raised her eyes open slowly and stared into the dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling, she felt tubes inside her nostrils and towel wrapped around her nude body. The record of classic retro Seeburg instrumental elevator music plays loudly, hearing fuzz coming the spinning of record CD and the loud chaining and banging sounds aside her. She can hear the huffing of a young man, the sounds of a panicked man. She wanted to look away, to witness this man beside her but the feeling was immediately pulled back and all she could do was hopelessly look into the light.

A whoosh sound of the metal door, she felt a colder breeze brushing against her pale skin and discerned every step towards the two. The medical masked man stands before her, holding onto a clean scalpel and her eyes shut down from the pain of staring at the light for too long. She felt the spark on his silk rubber fingers rushing down her arm as her body burned with an overwhelming sensation of pleasure and a slight vibration ran down her spinal cord from the compelled electrical impulses of her brain.

The baring kicking of the clinking metal table from the right side of the small room echoes around the room, almost waking her up. She heard the noise of a raspy electronic male voice shrieking at the man in pain, “You’ll never get away with this, you sick bastard! I’ll get you! We’ll get back from all the shit you have done!”

She rotated her head towards the noise and steadily opened her eyes lazily, the room was pitch dark swirling around the vivid facial features of a deformity male mechanical structure faced towards her direction. The man’s eyes gazed upon her with wires covering his eyes with sorrow sinking into his pupils, unable to cry. Her heart aches towards the man’s suffering, wanting to reach her hand towards his to comfort the horrors as the image of man merges into a blurred and broken glassy picture of her mind. She didn’t know him, but she felt there was a strong spiritual connection between the two. A sisterly love towards this distorted man. A tear runs down her cheek, the man’s hand agonizingly reaches his hand towards her.

Fiona’s arm falls from the frosty metallic table, feeling the heavyweight of her flesh arm. Her arm shakes rapidly, struggling to reach her hand to the man. Before her arm can stretch up, the masked man injects a green liquid into the man’s body. The man begins to scream from the top of his lungs. She started crying over the man’s torture, trying to move her body from the table.

The stringy man shuts his eyes, collapses on the table, and witnesses his body being dragged away from a white figure. Her body wanted to scream in terror and desperately in need of answers but all she could do was tightly close her lips and close her eyes, hoping everything she has witnessed washes away. The instantaneous frosty soft-touch pressed against her back of neck gave her an immediate warm longing sensation rushing down her spine, heating her face.

 _“Andy!”_ She once heard the same male European voice from last time, tapping on the back of her neck, _“There’s the spot!”_

She raised her eyes open briskly and stood up from the bed, pacing heavily from the questionable dream. Fiona scans around the spacious room, holding onto herself and staring distantly at the workbench. For a moment, the room around her looked sharper and clearer than yesterday. Funny enough, this was the clearest thing she ever witnessed in her life. The amount of detail she stares upon the workbench amazes her for a second. The rust on the edges and the colors slightly fading away, were the details she only dreamed to tell. She took a heavy breath and relaxed her weary body, pondering over the dream.

 _‘Was it really a dream though?’_ She thought, _‘Or was it a memory? I cannot tell.’_ She looked down at her right hand, _‘Who was that man? Why did I have some...connection to him?’_ She reaches her hand over the back of her neck, pressing her finger onto her skin and groans in the cringing pain. She immediately removes her finger from her neck and sighed, _‘It feels strange touching there, I need something to cover my neck. I feel subconscious now having it exposed like this.’_

“Good morning, Captain.” Fiona looked above the ship, listening to the A.I, “I noticed you continuously repositioned yourself throughout the night, I assume you were having a nightmare?

Fiona nodded and answered softly, “Yeah, I guess… I can’t be sure honestly.” She yawned a little and stretched her arms open, “I’m going to go out for a bit.”

“Ok, please tread carefully.”

She put her feet on the ground, realizing she slept through the whole night in her hibernation suit, “Uhuh.”

It’s been too long for Fiona to sleep in a below-average bed since her blood and sweat days of university. Those were the days with no willing parent helping her to cover the cost of her English degree and simply wasn’t good enough to earn any scholarship. Most of those days were working hard at stocking up in a retail store, her exhausted face was scanning through books, and drinking strong black coffee until she updated to cocaine to keep up with studies. She can barely have a bed to sleep on during those days since she desperately wanted to leave her parents’ home as soon as possible, but hardly have any income to have her rundown apartment. The best place she ever had at that time was living with a couple of interns at her workplace, helping her to drive there every day before she moved in with her medical ex-boyfriend for a short period.

If there was one good thing that came from marrying a billionaire, it was the silky soft and luxurious bed. Also, a housemaid cleans the gorgeous penthouse while they go out to work. However, there was some freedom about sleeping on a bed such as this than the thousands of dollars bed ever did. Technically, it wasn’t truly hers. It didn’t work hard enough to earn this (whether the owner just stole this or bought it was debatable to her) but she was the closest person to the body with no other relatives and she did have to fight to the death to just go inside. To force her to fight her way to earn a ship was more rewarding and satisfying than the few years she spent being aside from her husband all the time with a dog collar around her neck.

After leaving the spaceship with a notepad and a pen that she found in the ship, she discussed with a grey-haired gentleman about the company’s guards. Easier for her to say that they accidentally shot themselves than the actual truth, maybe part of the truth honestly. She later watched him taking care of the corpses (since their bodies are owned by the company, completely wrong in her taste) after discovering a town named Edgewater nearby.

She pulled the notepad and pen out of her pouch, she decided to make the notepad full of important tasks she needed to do. The list was full of ideas and objectives she needed to do such as receiving items to build a training dummy to improve her newfound melee abilities or better yet, visit a doctor to fix her eyes at once. She wrote down in her notepad to receive a scarf and get a private journal, it’s been too long for her since she last had a journal and it was the best time to have one with no one spying on her finally.

She threw the notepad and pen in the pouch and before she could move an inch, she looked up to the sky. She can notice the white puffy clouds shifting pass in the pure blue sky, the rings swirling around the rocky planet steadily and red and yellow bright auroras shining around. She never noticed how stunning it was to look around the location until now, rememorizes the moment when she first experienced the Aurora Borealis with her husband. At that moment, it was a perfect experience she never was supposed to witness and smiles in joy with his arm warming her from the snowy weather. She dropped her head to the ground, staring blankly at the dirt. She needed to work, not put her head in the clouds.

Fiona continues walking her towards Edgewater, pulling out the saber in her hand tightly. She couldn’t let the past haunt her again, she wasted too much time worrying about the past all her life. It was time for her to renew herself. Whatever happened at those times were long gone from her presence or has always been a figment of her imagination, that man she loved at the time has disappeared and she was all alone again. Her vision flickers at each step she takes through the trail of dirt, descending towards a blurry blended picture of the world and listening to the footsteps becoming audible as she continues walking forward.

Fiona stood there, clearly confused why her eyes slowly faded into these horrifying images in front of her. She closed her eyes and rubbed her eyes, trying to fix her eyes. Footsteps come closer towards her direction and begin to hear gunshots in her direction.

She stopped rubbing her eyes, returning to her sharper eyesight and seeing three marauders in front of her. Two marauders run towards her with a saber as the last one covers oneself over to the rock with its pistol. She slowly walks back and wields her saber towards the two marauders, trying to think quickly.

As the marauder jumped towards her and swung his saber towards her, she pressed against her left thumb to slow down time. Her left-hand grasps onto the grip of the saber, stacking onto her right hand and pitching her arms, lining up her feet beneath her shoulders and bends her knees. She targets the marauder’s waist as the person gets closer towards her and swings the saber with full force. Time speeds regularly, witnessing the blade sinking deep into the jumped marauder’s waist and dropping the sword on the ground. The jumping marauder collapsed onto the ground and groaned in pain. Fiona quickly grabbed the sword on the ground and quickly dodged the swing from the next marauder.

She aims towards the next marauder as she tries carefully to watch over the other one with the gun behind her. As soon as she hears the gun being shot, she slows time down and quickly dodges the bullets pass by her. She watches the marauder being shot on the shoulder at regular speed, she runs towards the armed marauder that was recently shot and swings directly at the head. She briefly watches the man fall to the ground and quickly hides behind a rock before the marauder begins shooting aimlessly.

 _‘Conserving ammo isn’t in their nature, huh?’_ She smiles to herself before she reveals herself towards the bandit. The man wearing a red scarf around his man was searching ammo around his body as she charged towards him with her saber. The man quickly throws a punch towards her face, she blocks the fist with her forearm and instantly strikes the saber pass through the open path of the scarf and the blade descends into his throat. The man stands there in surprise from the quick attack and instantly dies from the injury. She removed the saber from his throat and took a deep break.

The fighting was over for now and she can’t tell if she was just lucky to fight so well or they were worse at fighting than she was with all those times she had to defend herself against her sister’s physical harm. She grabbed the red scarf and examined it thoroughly, she wasn’t sure if it was wise to keep it from a bandit with bad hygiene like theirs but her neck was aching for something to cover up badly. She wraps the long red scarf around her neck tightly and feels a sense of relief for now. All this fighting for a simple red scarf was worth it in her eyes. The only thing that is still lurking in her mind is why does she so desperately need to cover up her neck, but only time can tell.

**…**

All good things come to an end after leaving the battle, her poor eye vision was here to stay for a while and she was afraid that if she kept rubbing her eyeballs around, it would hurt her more than help her. Luckily, no bandits haven’t attacked her since she made her way to the entrance of Edgewater fairly well. Although, she was pretty sure she went in circles for a bit before realizing the wrong directions.

As she steps forward to an open yard in front of a bridge leading towards the town’s tall metal door with a wiggling sign. She mumbled to herself, “I hope this is the place, it would be awkward if I mistook the marauder camp as the town again.”

Fiona walked forward and heard a man’s voice in front of her direction that stopped her tracks for a second. She was greeted to the town and company’s gravedigger, Silas, or the way he calls himself, “Junior Inhumer”. She did remember ADA mentioning her cartridge being titled “Alex Hawthorne” from now and that was the name she gave him. Honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time she carries a different name around the world. It just makes the world harder to find her whereabouts.

Most of the conversation between them was about the town's current status: Spacer’s Choice™ company is burning the city to the ground with their single meal of the day, salt tuna, marauders, and possibly some graverobbers hanging around. She fills everything she could need to know before entering, better prepare for the worst she believed. She asked him one remaining question in her mind, “Listen, I need a job. Something nice and quick. Do you know anyone that can have some offerings?”

“You can check out if Reed Tobson needs anything. He’s up in the tower above the cannery. Head into town and follow the road.” Fiona pulls out her notepad and writes the information down, “I also got a job for you if you want.”

She nodded, “I’m listening.”

“Four workers haven’t paid up their fees and I can’t keep them getting away with it.”

“And I’m assuming it’s about their own graves.”

“Uhuh, and these workers are Phyllis, Conrad, Ludwig, and Martin Abernathy. You may wanna twist Martin’s arm a little, he’s a special case.”

She lifted her head from the notepad, “Why is he a special case?”

“He just is. I don’t want to get into it. Just make sure he pays up.”

She put the notepad in her pouch, “Alright, I’ll be back. I’m sure I can find them on my own, I hope. Thanks for the job.”

“No problem, see ya.” The gravedigger continues his job as Fiona walks in the distance to the town’s entrance.

**…**

The town of Edgewater felt like a decaying being who was ready to die but yet still clings onto its last hope, smiling at their peers to hide the scars all over their body. Too struck from its’ glory days and too horrified to look forward at the nothingness of the future. The town was slowly losing its colors with few citizens chatting to each other about work and most of them in the sick house. She looked at the Spacer’s Choice’s mascot poster sitting there with a wink on its face at their tired citizens bringing her back to those times on Earth. All those advertisements, posters only gave artificial happiness to the people. Nothing more but half-truths, the same truths she dealt with for too long.

The entrance of Edgewater was a shivering sensation and almost felt like a blast of the past, something she thought she had forgotten. It brought back those nights of her watching out of her childhood window. She can look at her hometown and feel in her guts some of the unique colors of Provo was slowly washing away by the whispers of the arrival of new-age technology that may lead thousands of people to a lifestyle of hopelessness. That or the screams of the whimsical primitive technology that everyone passionately grew up with and slowly becomes an unrecognizable blob of its former self. It was something she pondered about every once in a while, but never had the words to describe a chilling feeling until she came to Edgewater.

The town smells like what it advertises: salt tuna. Disgusting, fishy, salty tuna, and staring at the sky didn’t make the difference. Staring at the sky and watching black clouds filling the blue sky only makes her just want to leave this place for good.

She looked down to the ground, seeing regular trash laying about, and all she could react to it with a shrug. At this point, it reminded her too much of New York City now.

 _‘And here I thought I left that all behind me now, I guess nothing’s ever really gone.’_ She took a deep breath from just staring at the place, _‘Well, I’m going to hang out the back alleys. Maybe a drug deal going on.’_

Walking through the dim back alley provides nothing for her, no secret drug deals, just random leftovers that people have forgotten about and random dead bodies lying on the ground, possibly from the plague she kept hearing about from the workers. However, as she roamed around the town, she came across an open garage with a workbench and terminal. She carefully scans around the location and notices the door being wide open.

 _‘Who just leaves the door to their own home wide open like that? I know it’s a small town, but damn.’_ She looked behind if anyone was watching her and entered the home. She looks around the location thoroughly as she can, _‘This is probably a bad idea, but they did leave the door open.’_

She went upstairs and spotted a terminal on the desk, luckily enough for the person, it was locked. Unfortunately, Fiona knew a thing or two about computers. She wanted to know what was behind the computer, she knew it was rude to invade someone’s privacy but her curiosity was a killer to her.

She managed to get in but unable to read the contexts due to her bad eyesight, _‘Damn these fucking eyes. I swear, someone out here better has glasses for me or else...I’m going to get mad at something.’_ She took a deep breath, _‘I guess that’s what I get for being nosy. I may well get something to eat and drink here, I haven’t eaten since…’_ She thinks deeply and realizes something, _‘Forever, I didn’t even get to eat yesterday. No wonder, I feel so tired.’_

She got up from the chair and grabbed a meal from the fridge, jugging a bottle of an energy bottle. The drink gave her strange sour glow taste in her mouth, but it filled her empty stomach and felt awake for a bit. _‘Well, this will certainly teach them to close their doors before leaving.’_


	4. Work Harder, Not Smarter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long, my mind is off elsewhere really. I have been thinking about other projects that I want to work on. I do want to finish this story though, but sometimes I just doze off elsewhere. Especially since I don't have a deadline for this particular story (I like to give myself a deadline to finish stories).
> 
> Anyways, this chapter where she finally meets Parvati.

It didn’t take too long for her cravings to kick in after eating for the first time since her awakening. It was like consuming those products has opened up all her Earthly desires once again that has tried to close up for her job’s sake. Her right hand was shaking a bit when she left the building, she knew she needed it. It was the only way she would make it through the day, especially with the number of people she has killed in front of her eyes. She can try to play it cool on her own but she knows she will soon break down on the floor, begging for someone to save her. Her therapist usually tells her to repress those urges by doing the things she loves and reward herself when she does. However, most of the time the only way she can repress those urges is to smoke a camel to ease her nerves and stay away from home as much as possible, hoping the cigarettes will finally kill her someday.

Before visiting the cannery, she visited the general store and barely had the currency for a pack of cigarettes and lighter. She placed the cigarette between her lips and lit it up, taking a long huff from the cigarette. She blew the smoke into the dark clouds in the air, feeling the pain washing away shortly.

_ ‘This tastes like shit.’ _ She thought,  _ ‘Got better cigarettes from the homemade ones from a high schooler. Whatever, it’s better than nothing.’ _

She was introduced to the cannery with a tiny green dim-lighten room with wooden panel walls and Spacer’s Choice neon logos hanging on the walls. A rectangular yellow beaten rug on the rich brown vinyl wooden panel that wraps the room together. Two glowing blue light doors beside the small room and an open industrial elevator with a lever inside, waiting to operate. An empty office desk with a running terminal, no lock or anything, she assumes the receptionist is on a lunch break and was quickly headed out as soon it was a break.

She scans around the room and quickly grabs the small plastic bottle of dehydration tablets and a lime green Nico-pad cigarette pack, couldn’t resist the temptation of stealing simple items and reading one simple log on the terminal. Before reading, she remembered that she rubbed her eyes before so she could see clearly. She rubs her eyes steadily and can read the screen now. The log was the usual notice about sick leaves and how “sickness in the body reflects sickness in the mind”.

She rolled her eyes and closed the terminal, _ ‘I think I read enough, I’ll go chat with the mayor here. _ ’

She entered the elevator and pulled the lever. She leans against the wall with arms crossed and watches the elevator lifting her to her destination. She listens to the calm jazz elevator music, staring into the distance and leaving her mind wondering.

She heard the mumbles of a man coming up from the elevator, “Ms. Holcomb, I need you to explain this with less of the—the grease-monkey argot.”

_ “Ding!” _ She heard the pleasing sound it made once she reached her floor shortly and watched the elevator open wide in front of her. An open wide room with light pink room and an arched window after the office desk, hologram advertisements of the company, and the same yellow rug with security guards guarding at the corners of the room. A man with a bowler hat and fair suit standing by his desk staring down at a young woman with bright yellow clothing sitting down on a chair.

She slowly walks inside the room and listens to their conversation. The woman answered to the man, “I’m sorry, Mister Tobson, sir. You asked why it’s taking so long to fix. The answer’s technical.”

She walked towards a desk near the edge of the room as the two people were having their private conversation. She saw a bunch of papers surrounding the desk including a wanted poster of a certain individual. She picked up the poster and looked deeply into it, it was the same man who resurrected her from those chambers with his name and the price.

_ ‘So his name is Phineas Welles, huh?’ _ She examines the price tag on him. An electronic beep rings into her ear and a small smile grows across her face,  _ ‘Not a bad price, I’ll say.’ _ She widened her eyes and lost her smile,  _ ‘Jesus Christ, did I just think that? The guy helped me out. Sure, I have my suspicions about the guy, but I have no right to sell him out just yet.’ _

“Seems we got a guest here.” Fiona drops the poster on the table, turning her head in the man’s direction with her widening eyes. The man glances at the woman, “I do wish you spoke up, Parvati.” He returns his gazes upon Fiona, “I do apologize, I wasn’t notified of your arrival here or I would’ve welcomed you at the gates myself.”

“It’s no problem really,” Fiona changes her tone of voice to professional matter and reaches her hand towards the man, attempting to appear confident. “You must be Reed Tobson, the town’s mayor, I presume?”

He shakes her hand with a smile, “Yes, I am. I’m the outpost administrator, and you are?”

“Alex, Alex Hawthorne. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” She smiles confidently.

“So nice to see a fresh face with a professional matter.” Fiona nods. She knew these kinds of people too damn well and there’s always a role she has to play to get people to like her, at least for a short time. “I’m sorry, I can’t help but notice you’re not in uniform.”

“No, I don’t work in Spacer’s Choice. Actually, I was just taking a trip to Edgewater. However, my ship needs repairs and I need a power regulator for it to work again.”

“The only regulator we got is hooked up to the town transformer.” The woman answers directly to Fiona, “Mr. Tobson ain’t liable to be keen on dismantling it.”

He frowns at the lady, “I beg your pardon. I am most emphatically not keen on any such thing.” He returns to Fiona, “I’m sorry, but I cannot let you have our power regulator. However, I happen to know another one without frying yourself.”

“Really?” Fiona displays actual interest, “Tell me.”

“There’s one in the old botanical lab, it’s mostly abandoned, so all that power is being squandered.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Mostly abandoned?”

“The botanical labs are not legally inhabited, but people are living there.”

She nodded, “Marauders. I can take care of them.”

“Actually they’re deserters, former workers. I need them back at their posts, I need them to come back home. I need you to go down to the geothermal plant, reroute power from the botanical distract over to us. Once their power is shut down, the regulator should be there and you can be on your way.”

She questioned him without a thought, “Why?”

“We haven’t exactly met our quotas lately. If we don’t meet our quotas this year, the company might shut us down for good. I need those workers back at their stations.”

She answered the man bluntly in her monotone voice, “I can’t blame them, it’s a dump here.”

He glances at her, completely offended and surprised by the sudden change of attitude. “ _ Excuse me? _ ”

As much she wanted to stand her ground on her true beliefs of the place. Fiona instead tries to crack a smile, “I meant it in a sarcastic way?”

“Right…” He rests himself, staring down at Fiona with suspicion. “I hope that by cutting off their power, you will convince those deserters to come back to town. You should visit them before going to plant, speak to their leader, Adelaide about this matter.”

She sighed, feeling no other better choice is available, “Fine, I’ll see what I can do.”

“My dad told me all about the plant.” The woman includes herself in the conversation with a wide grin, “Taught me all he knew. I could come in useful!” For once, she felt this woman practically glowing and was waiting for such an opportunity to come to her. However, her friendly demeanor gave her an unnerving thought. She can’t tell what exactly she earns from doing this (other than away from her boss). The welding goggles woman faced the bowler hat man and murmured, “I-I mean if that’s alright with you, Mister Tobson, sir.”

“I hesitate to part ways with Ms. Holcomb but I cannot deny she is talented and may prove useful to you.”

Fiona turns around, squinting her eyes at the woman and studying every inch on the woman. She does appear to be a nice person, a bit shy, and someone to keep to herself. However, looks can be deceiving, and maybe she wouldn't be able to tell that until it’s too late. She can be lying right at her face, knowing she can be easily taken advantage of or use her as a punching bag. She can probably see all of that right through her, she was listening to their conversation and giggling in the background. She was probably poking fun of her with her horrible attempt to mess with the man. Maybe she was only sticking to her until Fiona is no longer needed and stabs her in the back.

Sometimes, it’s just better to be safe than sorry. She returns her gaze at the man with the apathetic tone, “I can handle it on my own, thank you for the offer though.”

The lady looked down and hugged herself, “Oh...um...I just thought—I just thought I could be of some help…”

Now Fiona felt guilty for upsetting her, that wasn’t her attention to do so. However, she didn’t know her. She clenched her fists tightly and faced the woman, “I just don’t need any help, that’s all. I can handle myself just like anyone else.” She walked forward to the elevator.

“Well, if you need any help with any mechanical issues, you can speak to Ms. Holcomb at her place!” Reed shouted.

She nodded and took another hit of her cigarette. “Yup, I can hear ya. See ya later.”

**…**

Never in a million years would’ve she dreamed herself to be a tax collector until now, let alone be a gravesite fee collector. She hated them as much as anyone else in the world but complaining about it wouldn’t do anything and hoping they’re using it for good. The idea alone made her feel a bit anxious since she didn’t wish to have people adding more reasons to hate her. Now that she had to visit the barber of the town for his fee even if he couldn’t pay it back, sure she may feel bad he cannot but she had to do her job. If she was going to eat tonight, she can’t rely on stealing someone’s food again. Although, the introduction of the man by being lectured about her hygiene (and believing that she has to be the cleanest person in this town has ever seen), and then be told that he cannot pay it in the fanciest way possible made wonder her how much patience does an average tax collector has before going into a homicidal rage.

She huffs her shrink cigarette, clearing her head, and asks him, “Is there another way you pay that bill?”

“Well, I can—.” He stops himself and becomes utter shock in himself, “No, I can’t do that! That’s just wrong!”

“Whatever you’re thinking, it could be beneficial to your current situation and I’m going to need it even if it’s morally wrong. It’s not like you’re grave robbing or anything, right?”

He nervously laughs, “Well, there’s these teeth that Phyllis recommended and—.”

“You know what,” She cuts him off, “I don’t want to know. I’m going to be needing whatever you can throw at me before the day ends and if you can get your hands on them on time, that’s fine by me.”

“Alright, I’ll let you know when I get them!”

“By the way, where is Phyllis?”

“Oh, she’s in the cannery. Working in the factory, I believe.”

“Right, thanks. Talk to me when you get it.”

She was more or less hoping to not return to the cannery for a bit after how well the conversation went for her and wanted to leave the place immediately, but she must eat tonight. Her stomach was beginning to growl loudly, almost audible around the town and she can barely walk her way in the town. Seventy years of missing meals can do such a thing to a person, especially those who used to ignore a couple of meals. The poorly-tasted cigarettes she has aren't exactly filling her stomach except with lung cancer.

As she entered the building, she bumped shoulders into a feminine individual. Fiona quickly turned around and looked at a messy bun woman with a worried face, “Oh law, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to get in your way!”

Fiona just nodded, recognizing the female voice from Reed’s office, “It’s okay, I’m doing fine. I honestly didn’t even see you there. You didn’t stab me in the shoulder with a poison dagger by any chance, did you?”

“No, of course not! I was just—.”

“Relax, I was just joking.” She looked down at the ground and kicked the ground a bit to fill in the silence, “Well, see ya.”

“Right…” She wandered away from the woman and entered the side doors to the factory.

The woman named Phylis was a delightful person just like co-workers at her old job, someone she can rely on to kick her on the ground while she’s already down just from her first impression.

_ ‘Maybe, she’s just grumpy.’ _ She pondered,  _ ‘I know I’m grumpy whenever I work.’ _ She clears her throat and looks through the documents carefully, the documents were signed under a different name. “Ma’am, this isn’t your name on these papers…”

“Because they’re not my fees and not my gravesite. The guy that I worked with shot himself. I paid the bill.”

Fiona lifts her head from the documents and gives her full attention with a sympathetic stare, “That’s nice of you to do.”

The woman nearly rolled her eyes, “No need for your sarcasm, I wasn’t doing this from the kindness of my heart. Law requires delinquent gravesite fees to be paid by the deceased party’s closest living relative. Which meant me.”

“So the guy really shot himself?” She answered softly and took a deep breath, “That’s...I don’t know what to say. It must’ve been hard for you since then.”

She crosses her arms, “Eugene wasn’t family.”

“But you said you were his closest living relative.”

“Yeah, I was the closest living person relative to his body at the time of his death since I was the one who found him. So I pay the fines. Suicide’s a crime and what Eugene did to himself was vandalism.”

She runs through her hair and her mouth wide open, “You can’t be serious…” She nearly dropped herself to the ground from the information. She raised her voice, “What the hell were they going to do? Arrest his fucking body and put him in corpse jail? What they could’ve done is to  _ at least _ give a shitty speech about his death being a tragedy and move on from there. You know, at least fake  _ some _ human decency? Is that so damn hard to do nowadays or am  _ I _ the loony one here? You know what, don’t answer that.”

“Can you keep it down? I don’t think the Chairman didn’t hear you quite well enough.” Fiona sighed, “Whatever you’re feeling, save it for someone else. I’m just glad to have this all behind me and he can rest easy now. Now, if you will excuse me, I would like to continue working.”

She left the woman alone and started moving out of the cannery. This whole location has ruined her mood for good. She was just more than glad to be outside and now she had to visit the old man.

_ ‘You know if I worked at a place like this, I’ll kill myself too.' _ She dropped the cigarette butt on the ground,  _ ‘This is not my exact ideal suicidal place though, that’s for sure. Disneyland was more ideal than this dump and I’m surprised Disney or maybe even Google doesn’t own Halcyon. At least not yet, I’m not holding my breath.’ _

She knocked on the door of Abernathy’s residence, it would’ve been kinda rude for her to just walk inside someone’s house. She heard the old man yelling to come in and enter the residence. The door closed behind as she scanned around the small location and witnessed an old man staring at a painting.

She moves forward to the old gentleman and hears the rumbles of the elderly man before clearing her voice, “Mr. Abernathy?”

The man jumped a bit and turned around to face Fiona, “Uh, did Mr. Tobson bring you here?”

She shook her head, “No, Silas sent me here actually. I’m going to need you to pay your gravesite fees, if you may.”

He sighed, “He knows, doesn’t he? That’s why he sent you here. That’s why he wants me to pay up, he knows.”

She lowered her eyebrows as she pulled a cigarette from the pack, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that I’m dying. Quite soon actually. It’s the plague and Silas knows. That’s why he wants to charge me.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, I hope it will at least be slightly painless.”

“Thank you for your compassion, but I doubt it will be anything but painless.” The man reaches his papers from one of the shelves and handles it to her, “Here are your fees. I don’t want to have any trouble with Silas.” She grabbed onto the papers, “But if you could see your way to freelancing for me, I could really use the help.”

“Well, I’m always in need of a job unless someone makes everything free, so shoot me.”

**…**

Her story as the infamous gravesite fee collector was soon about to close after agreeing upon getting medicine for the old man and then being interrupted by some lady who needs it more than the elder and willing to pay more. Tempting for her, but Fiona tells her she’ll think about it. Honestly, there wasn’t a reason other than currency to help the man and she will like to keep her word. She shortly got the barber’s fees before heading out the gates, quick and convenient. There was only one person she needed to finally be done and graduate herself by being able to eat something.

As she watched the gates closed carefully, she turned around and witnessed a tall smiling man standing before her. It was a clear and sharp image of this man as everything was blurred out and couldn’t figure out exactly why. His fedora shades down of his square face. His hands were tucked inside his black pants and his long arms were covered by an oversized beige trench coat. The man’s aura she felt coming from made her step back from the man and hovers her hand over to her saber.

“Fiona,” She listened to the deep-voiced swooping into her body and the vibration of voice sinking into her body. Her eyes dilate into the man’s soulless black pupils and her room around her fading before her. She felt like she knew him, but couldn’t place a finger where. He pulled out a cassette tape from his trench coat, “Here’s the tape you need to know.” He saunters towards her with the same smile on his face. The world around her stops moving except this one man who walks towards her. Her body was frozen up with terror and confusion, vivid colorful images flash into her from every clicking noise he makes moving to her way. She felt cold in those images, she was so cold and frightened of what exactly was happening. She felt something lurking inside her, yearning to wake up any minute. A loud buzzing rings into her ears and the urge to cover her ears has almost become unbearable.

He grabbed her pale hand and carefully placed the tape into her hand, she gripped the tape tightly and looked into the man’s eyes. All she could make out from her lips was a simple whisper, “Why?”

“Because it’s the truth and you deserve the truth if you’re going to survive.”

“HEY!” She jumped from a loud shout coming from Silas and inspecting her surroundings. There was nothing too out of the ordinary. She glanced down and noticed footsteps that worked towards her direction. “Are you alright? You spaced out a bit.”

She sighed, “I’m fine, really. I just...never mind, I’m fine.” She looked at her right hand, noticed the tape still remaining in her hand. She whispered to herself, “What is this old thing doing here though?”

She placed the tape inside her pouch and began to stroll down the bridge, this whole town was going to make her go insane. She can feel it in her guts and all she wants now is to get out of her tight hibernation suit as soon as possible.

“Hey, did you get all the fees?” The gravedigger questioned her as he continued doing his job.

“Almost there, buddy. Just need to get Ludwig, know where I can catch him?”

He pointed down beside the town, “He’s over there at Edgewater Landing Pad, it’s southeast from here. Just follow the road, it should take you there. You can’t miss it!”

She bobbed her head, “Thanks.”

**…**

Fiona never could find herself having any form of hatred or any paranoia towards auto mechanicals. For one, she was always interested in machinery, at least computer machinery. She studied both computer engineering and computer science mildly in her free time. She passably was able to build her computer during her journalism days out of curiosity and to fit in the gaming crowd. It took a while to understand the exact know-how to build it, but with her extended research and determination was able to make her dream computer a reality.

She also believed the technology of robots attempting to take over the world is far too soon since robots still need humans’ assistance to keep it operating well on the job and their body is too limited to do anything towards a human (well, other than shooting guns but a human can do that too). Now, if that mechanicals appears to be more advanced than the current status, then it could be rather alien technology than humans ones. A danger that needs to be taken care of rather than if the robots will destroy humanity or not. Although, this man named Ludwig, at least had some interesting things to say.

She doesn’t hundred percent doubt him, it may be possible in the distant future with technology continuing progress to the point where an A.I may be able to think on the same level as a human (kinda like ADA). However, that will be only because a human installs it in the system to act like that in the first place. Accidentally or not, it’s an event that can be preventable. The only way to stop a robot uprising is to not do a thing to cause it in the first place.

Of course, the man disagreed with her views but she believes he is more surprised that someone took a day to think about such madness. There was a moment in her life that made her think about the idea of robots taking over the world, a protest of her husband’s car company rather about the poor defenseless machines working too hard from a lot of communist robot zealots and terrible underpayment complaints from the actual sane people. It was sort of a glorious day to watch her husband stress himself out and she hasn't laughed that hard on that day since Vegas. However, it seems such an internal threat and if robots were truly superior beings compared to humans, they will attack the aliens instead of their human overlords. They can do that later.

It was kinda funny though, maybe even ironic. His whole speech about his hatred towards robots only brings the light of a memory about a man, the leader of the protest who stripped himself nude for his political views (and possibly from being high on meth). He wanted robots to take over the world since he believes that they will be the superior beings and wanted to turbo speed towards that future without capitalism in the way. He believed a supercomputer A.I will gain awareness like nothing before and will cleanse the world (with nuclear missiles). Those who blindly follow the computer will get to live forever in paradise as cyborgs and make the revolution of robotics. They will get to live in peace with their robot overlords. It was pretty funny to think about now that she remembers.

She usually tries to stay away from extremists on any side of the political spectrum but something about the man was slightly charming, he was like no one she ever met before. He looked like some unattractive geeky man who probably spends too much time on the internet and yet she couldn’t help but admire his confidence when she watched him. He said the dumbest things imaginable with full boldness and he believed it in his heart that he was right, but he has done things she can only dream to do one day. He was very blunt about his thoughts and actions even if it offended someone, hardly apologizing for his honesty. He was downright rude to people, treating people as servants sometimes. However, he was also very intelligent and could go on for hours about robots, his true passion and he made her laugh more than anyone else can. The way he talked to Fiona made her believe that he may care about her and he was the only one who instantly notices the troubles between her husband and her. He certainly wasn’t a good man, but he was a man she can remember by.

She smiled to herself,  _ ‘I wonder how he would feel if he met this guy. Probably call him a “cappie” and start shooting up the place.’ _

“Ma’am, what do you say? Will you join the resistance or die like a coward as that mechanicals butchers your corpse?”

She draws her full attention to the man’s spacing out of his long and boring speech. If those communist robot believers have succeeded in those seventy years, she was pretty sure that this would be a much different conversation. That and everything would’ve been free, but hardly any food around to munch on. “I guess I’ll join.” Not because she believed that propaganda he was spitting about, but simply for money.

**…**

Fiona returns to the small foul town at night, she has finally finished her tasks to reward herself with a meal. She handles all the fees to the gravedigger and goes out to receive the medicine along with other kinds of drugs she wasn’t familiar with. There were wacky marauders in her way, but they were hardly a problem. At least the ones inside, she managed to keep herself low to the ground and killed them one by one quietly. The ones outside, however, was a slightly different story. She did catch a decent amount of bullets before being able to shake it off with her soon-to-be favorite drug, Adreno. She found her stomach aching badly, she could do nothing but cough up blood and feel the bullets removed from her system as she threw up. It was disgusting and uncanny to watch her throwing up the bullets just easily remove out of her body. It seems her luck only shines when she’s in combat, the one time she slightly wishes death comes. Of course, she gave her word to the elderly man and gave him what he needed. The only task she hasn’t done was to execute the “scout” robot from the junkyard.

Watching the machine walking around like a chicken with no head made her change her directions, she doesn’t know why she simply cares about a mechanical robot just roaming around aimlessly but it felt like killing a clueless child. She rather wanted to repair it instead, but she had no idea how to repair a robot. It was too advanced for her understanding, she just started to learn about modification in weapons and armor. So, she just walked away from the scene. She can always do it tomorrow since the sun was setting down.

She huffs and puffs her cigarette, calming her now jittery body from the long combat. Fiona spotted the woman from Reed’s office with her welding goggles working around her workbench, deeply invested in her work.

_ ‘Maybe, I can ask her for help to repair it. I believe she’s the mechanic of this place and I heard she’s good at her job.’ _ Her eyes wander around her house, fully recognize this location, and realize what she has done.  _ ‘I guess that’s out of the question. She’ll hate me for stealing her stuff. I’m such an idiot!’ _ She felt like mentally slapping herself,  _ ‘Here’s a good opportunity to talk to someone and maybe make friends, but then I, of course, ruined it for myself like usual. I always have to ruin everything for everyone including myself. I can’t do anything right.’ _

“That’s right!” Fiona quickly turned around and scanned around where the voice is coming from, hearing a familiar high-pitched voice whisper into her ears, “You can’t do a damn thing, I’m surprised you made it this far in life! Let’s hope you don’t bring him down as well. After all, thousands of colonists are in your hands!”

She took a deep breath as the voice fades away and heard the cheery voice from the mechanical woman, “Hey there, did you need anything? I noticed you were staring and I couldn’t help but wonder. I can help you fix that saber from falling off. Uh, unless you don’t want to, of course…”

She relaxes her shoulders and blows the smoke from her lips, numbing the small panic from the voice and stares blankly at the mechanical woman. She answered softly, “I don’t need anything.”

“Okay, I just thought maybe you wanted to…” The mechanic paused for a second and answered shyly, “Uh, never mind, go on your business. Sorry for bothering you.”

She watches the mechanic walk back to her station, feeling guilty for her actions. Even if she was faking her kindness, the lady has been nothing but nice to her all day, and pushing her away hurts her severely. She could’ve said it nicer, maybe she could’ve given her the chance to talk to her and learn about her by herself. Nevertheless, it didn’t matter in the end. She would’ve hated her either way from her cold actions, her thievery, or from the very sight of her.

Instead, she just used her money to buy some food and a couple of drinks from the town’s bar, she sat down on the stool and stared at her wine in the wine glass spinning around thoroughly. The chatter that surrounds the bar didn’t bother her from her dark clawing thoughts sinking into her pale white skin. She runs her hand through her jet black hair and holds onto her glass. The face in the wine glass was Fiona, herself in an alternative reality, at least it felt like it was. She wore her bright smile filled with confidence and the sparkly violet club dress shines through with each step she made in the dim colorful nightclub. That was the last time she will ever feel like that again. The tall man with an angular jawline approached her and whispered to her ear before pitching into darkness.

She took a sip from the drink, the drink tasted like pure shit and it doesn’t help her desire for some stimulant in her body now. She tapped rapidly and took a big huff from the cigarette, she took another drink from her wine. She knew that she can only try to avoid the inevitable for so long and she can’t last too long without it. It was, after all, her destiny to fail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm one of the fewer people who didn't take Parvati with me right away. Originally I was planning to have my character be isolated throughout her entire story, but I was like "eh, fuck it" and needed her for something later on. Personally, I'm not really into companions but they do give a nice change of pace sometimes.
> 
> There was a small scene between Tobson and Fiona, but I have deleted it because I didn't think it would be that funny to you guys and it seems a bit cringy looking back. It was a funny thought at the time being.


	5. Life is Beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the first appearance of Vicar Max. I almost have forgotten about him and I tried to figure out how the two will meet each other. I have something cooking up for the two and have some importance in the story. I have played the DLC and its sort of threw me off since I have to plan if it's part of this story or leave it as a sequel to the story, not to mention I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it. I have an idea but it has to do with another character. I haven't published this since I have mixed feelings about this chapter. There are things I like, but also I can't help but feel something is wrong with it. Plus, I haven't been into this game in a while. Also, a little warning: I'm kinda doing my own thing with Outer Worlds. It may not completely link up to the lore of the game, but it's how I envision this particular story. You'll probably see why in the future.
> 
> As for the grammar issues with the verbs, I'll try to figure that out. Grammar has always been one of my greatest weaknesses since I started writing.

As she raises her eyes open and feels the cold wind brushing against her face, the sounds of calm ocean waves nearby and feel a hard wet solid surface resting on her face. She pulled her face from the rocks and spotted corpses surrounding the grave. Few were animals and only one next to the grave was a human, blood on the dirt that surrounds the corpse. She gazes at the lonely grave, its tombstone was only a couple of planks sticking out of the mound dirt. It must have been someone wanting to bury their loved one but didn’t have the money to pay the fees. That or someone was trying to cover a murder, but it seems too unlikely with the tombstones holding about.

From here, she saw a possibly crashed spaceship sinking into the ocean and quietly pondered her mind with the wonders of the world. Fiona hardly got drunk, she didn’t really enjoy the drunken state since she always felt like the world was weighing her down even more than up. She used to her mind being clouded but she wanted to feel energized, not depressed. Alcohol doesn’t really rest her nerves or anything, it was something that is more socially acceptable and can rarely taste good. She rotated her head back to the grave scene and spotted a folded pair of clothes with a mining helmet on top of it beside her. A folded piece of paper lay on top of the clothing and grabbed the little paper. She opened it up and read it.

_“For your own protection, Fiona._

_-Sincerely, a friend”_

_‘And who exactly is my friend? I don’t even know if I can even trust them with this clothing. They could’ve put some poison on top of it without my knowledge and as soon as my skin gets a contract with the fabric of the clothing, I’m good as dead.’_ She pondered and realized the foul smell coming from her armpits, the suit has become scratched and torn a bit since her adventure. The dirt and blood mixing into a strange color didn’t help her case. _‘Okay, maybe I do need a shower and a new pair of clothing. I hate wearing this hibernation suit anyways, I can barely breathe in it.’_

Fiona grabbed the yellow lightweight armor that covers her whole body, it appears to be more mobile as well. She did see these armors from the guards on Edgewater and the vendor was selling these kinds of armor. She can hardly believe corporations are willing to sell the same armor as their guards, but anything for a quick buck and she wasn’t in a position to complain. She sniffed and felt around the cotton and metallic parts, she didn’t really have any reason to continue to suspend it from her knowledge. She raises herself from the ground, feeling the thumping in her head from last night’s drinking. _‘Ugh, I hate alcohol…’_

She practically crawls her way towards the ocean, the cold winds rushing down on her and smelling nature seawater. She looked behind her and hoping no one was around watching her, she pulled the scarf and placed it on the stones. She grabbed onto the zipper from her back and gently zips down to her lower back, peeling off the suit of her body. Her heart begins to racing rapidly and her face heats up, looking around at every corner around her.

She did recognize those buildings over the hill, that little area with those robot-hating lunatics. What if they were looking over here? What if they spotted her stripping herself naked? Fiona just ran into the ocean, covering her body with the water. She just wanted to stink less even if she was still wearing her underwear on.

She tries to rest her mind by listening to the calming waves and the water gently rising up and down, but all she can do is hug herself and hope no one sees her here.

She heard footsteps walking toward her path, feeling like she was about to panic in a minute. From her distance, she saw a blurred figure of a dirty-blonde man with dark blue clothing walking towards her. She tries to rest her face and just blankly glares at him.

“You know,” He shouted to her, “You don’t often see a strange woman skinny-dipping in the cold water every day.”

“I’m barely skinny-dipping, jackass!” She answered him loudly, “What the hell are you doing here anyway? Are you some freak who watches girls wash in the water or what! Do you at least have a bar of soap so I can clean myself with or something? The show ain’t free, you know!”

He chuckled a little, “No if I was, you think I would’ve revealed myself to you?”

“I don’t know! Maybe! It could be part of your weird fetish or maybe it's part of something sinister! You can never be too safe! By the way, I’m armed!”

“Actually, I’m just looking for a book! It has some great importance to me and I must receive it! Have you seen the book anywhere?”

“What book?”

“A journal, the journal of M. Bakonu. It’s important for my work if you can find then just sent it to me and I’ll pay you for your time.”

She nodded, “Alright! I’ll see if I can find it when I’m _not_ half-naked though! Where do you want me to meet up when I do get the book?”

“At Edgewater, I’m usually in a building near the general store. You can drop the book there.”

“Alrighty, now get out of here, you perv!”

**…**

Her saber has been jolty lately, it didn’t become that way after her fight with marauders at the community center. She noticed the thing being jolty after hitting those primals for some book. She must have gotten into a fight before she knocked herself out at a lone grave, there were some animal bodies near the grave. It wouldn’t surprise her since the sword came from Spacer’s Choice and half of their population is dropping like flies. Plus their guns are more likely to misfire than anything, so the blade being slightly jolting around is an accomplishment for the company. Either they’re a fan with their melee weapons or they just knew what they’re doing when it came to that. It doesn’t change the fact that she needs to repair the weapon now.

She found the workbench to be empty this time around and she can feel great relief that the mechanic wasn’t around at this time. She can imagine trying to figure out how to repair the saber while painfully ignoring the mechanic after being harsh on her last night and stealing her stuff.

She placed the saber on the surface of the workbench, cracked her fingers, and stared into her reflection of the blade with a blank on her face. The only time she repaired a saber was in a video game about giant alien infectious mushrooms attempting to take over the world at a rapid pace and the best way to defeat it was with a nice tall glass of Molotov cocktail. She’s pretty sure that you cannot repair a saber with just a welder in reach. So, all she could do was inspect closely and try to figure out how to fix a jerky blade.

“Having trouble with that?” She turned back and saw the mechanic from last night, she didn’t really know what to say to her other than stare at her blankly. “I can help you with that, it’s pretty simple! I mean unless you don’t want to, of course…”

She took a deep breath and clenched her fists, “Go ahead.”

The mechanic smiles widely, “Great! You wouldn’t regret it, ma’am!” Fiona watches the mechanic closely as the mechanic shifts around the saber and grows a grin across her face, “Ah, I see! Ma’am, all you needed to do was tighten this grip, and…” She tightens the grip, handling the sword to Fiona. “And wala! There it should be working fine, at least for a while…”

“Well, it is a Spacer’s Choice product.” Fiona grabbed her sword, “I was planning on getting those sledgehammers instead anyways, try something different for a change.”

“Well, I guess it depends on how you fight in combat. I wouldn’t recommend a change if you’re new to it, though.”

Fiona raised an eyebrow, “A mechanic knows a thing or two about one-on-one combat?”

She smiles shyly, “Well, it is a dangerous world after all, especially with marauders around and about.”

“Right… I’m just not used to that idea, that’s all.” It amazes her how things can easily change in the course of seventy years. A silence filled the room and the mechanic looked around the room, desperately looking for anything to escape the awkwardness. Fiona took a deep breath, she knew she had to get the cat out of the bag and she can’t repair the robot on her own but she felt that she needed to know beforehand. “Listen, I need to say something. First, I want to say that yesterday I _may_ have stolen a little bit of your stuff from the house.”

The mechanic wrinkled her nose and furrowed between her eyebrows, her mouth opened widely, and questioned, “What?”

Fiona continues, “Ah, screw it, I _did_ steal your stuff and I didn’t feel any shame until later since your door was wide open for the whole world and I was practically starving without realizing it.”

Fiona shuts her lips tightly, anxious to see what the mechanic’s reaction is. The mechanic just nodded and answered, “Well, that will explain why there was no food in the fridge and the terminal was unlocked.”

She frowns, “You’re not mad at me?”

“Well, I’m more annoyed than anything. However, you didn't steal anything really practical. I can always just buy more food and I learned that my password isn’t secure enough so I thought of something more challenging.” The mechanic grew a bold smile, “However, I think I deserve a little something from the thievery and repairing your sword for you.”

Fiona bobbed her head, “You’re right,” She reaches down to her pouch, “How much do you want?”

“Wait, really? I mean...I thought…”

“Yeah, really. I mean I _did_ steal your stuff and you _did_ repair my sword, why not?” Fiona pulls the cartridges, “Okay, do you want all my money or half of my money?”

“I…” The mechanic stands there silently, “I...I really didn’t think this through…”

“I’ll just give you half of my money. This means…” She scans through the cartridge and handles the currency to the mechanic, “About two hundred, I spent the rest on food and drinks, unfortunately.”

The mechanic grabs onto the currency, “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”

“No, I had to. I mean, I was wrong. So, of course, it makes sense that I have to pay up eventually.” She extracted a cigarette from her pack and pressed it between her lips, “Now that’s out of my hair, I need your help. Reed did say you were excellent at your job and I was wondering if you can repair something for me, I think it will be more of your field than mine. I am willing to pay as you can see.”

She lit the cigarette, the mechanic answered, “Well, I am happy to help you up, ma’am. You do seem trustworthy enough.”

“Awesome, let’s head out. It’s in the junkyard, but you gotta keep this between us.” She blew the smoke beside her and deepened her voice, lowering her brows. She just gotta make the record straight for her own safety. “I don’t like snitches or backstabbers.”

The mechanic nervously laughs, “Right, of course. I can keep a secret, I swear!”

She hates to scare the poor girl, but she hasn’t really got a real understanding of the girl yet. Her real intentions or goals, for all Fiona, knows, she can be a secret government spy who wants to check on her because of the human experimentation that the aliens did. Maybe she was an undercover alien this whole time, she can never be too safe with how mad the world has become.

**…**

“Are you almost done?” Fiona stomped down the cigarette butt as she watches the mechanic fixing the robot, “I’m getting kinda hungry and I don’t want anyone catching us doing this since I want to get paid.”

“Almost there! I just gotta fix this little guy over here…” The mechanic tightens the robot with her wrench, “If you don’t mind me asking, ma’am, but why do you need him to repair?”

Fiona raised an eyebrow, attempting to grab another cigarette, “Him?”

The mechanic laughs, “Yeah, I thought to call this little guy named Jeremy. I think it’s kinda cute, to be honest.” The mechanic turned to Fiona with a worried expression, “Is that too creepy for ya? I usually like to name them, it makes them...more human I guess...”

Fiona shook her head, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “Nope, I don’t really care whatcha call it. I just need the guy to be repaired. Someone wanted me to kill it but I don’t wanna kill it since it seems super unnecessary, so I thought it would be just fine to repair it and send it on its way.”

The mechanic questioned her, “Someone sent you to kill it? Are you working with Ludwig?” She laughed to herself, “He seems so paranoid about a robot uprising. I mean what are the odds of a robot uprising?”

“I knew a group who worship robots and wanted to execute the human race, the complete opposite of Ludwig and his group. If robots have the same intelligence as a human one day, I think they will be more disturbed about what exactly goes on with the human mind than actually wanting to take over the world. Especially learning about people who have a…” Fiona looks away from the scene, thinking of any other words in mind, “...specific interest in them, I would say. Plus, what are they going to do _after_ taking over the world? I don’t believe robots have any original thinking like humans.”

“Exactly, I just can’t believe there are people who actually believe that kind of stuff! I guess people will believe what they want to believe, maybe something happened to them to make them believe that way. I can’t judge them for that.” The mechanic wipes her hands on her apron, “Alright, it should be working now. If I just…”

Fiona watches the robot automatically moving well with a smirk on her, the robot actually recognizes the location. “Well, I’ll be damned. It’s alive and well.”

The mechanic cheered, “Yeah, he is!” She turns the robot, “Okay Jeremy, you can return back to your home and tell them we repaired you up good! You’ll be more careful out there now as well!”

Fiona giggled, she walked towards her and spoke up, “You must really love robots to be speaking like that.”

The mechanic blushed a little and rubbed her arm, “Oh, well...it’s just something I care for...”

“Hey, I don’t mind. I think it’s kinda heartwarming to see someone so passionate about their work…” She pulls a cigarette, “It reminds me of the good o’ days, at least the few that I used to have.” Fiona opens her pouch, “Okay then, how much will that be?”

“Actually, it’s on the house.”

Fiona stared down at the woman and raised an eyebrow, “Huh? Are you sure? Because I sure as hell don’t mind free stuff unless you want me to do something for you.”

“Yeah really, you don’t need to repay me. I mean you seem nice for a burglar. After all, you did apologize and repay me when you stole my stuff.” Fiona laughed. “I also enjoyed talking to you, I mean you had your moments but you seem like a pretty nice person.”

“Oh…” Fiona’s eyes open wide and stand there uncomfortable, she looks away from the woman. “Well, thanks anyway. I gotta go.”

Before Fiona could reach the fence, the mechanic shouted at her, “Wait! I know you may not want me around for too long, but I think it will be beneficial for you to have me around. I mean, what if you need to fix another mechanical problem but you don’t have the skills or have any other mechanic to help you about? I promise I’m not very chatty and I wouldn’t get in your way, I mind my own business. I’ll just be your backup mechanic!”

She could do nothing but rotated her head and stared at the woman, examining her. She can’t tell if she’s just a quirky mechanical lady, an alien spy, or what. She did enjoy her moments with her, she wouldn’t lie and the lady seemed desperate enough to want to leave the place. But what if this is all a show? Even if she wasn’t a spy, she could just do all this to get what she wants. She could be using Fiona for whatever cause she wants. However, does she really want her away from her sight for whatever goal she wants? Not really and she did say to herself that this lady could be potentially a friend of hers. In a world where she has to fight to the death and her strong desire overwhelming her, maybe a friend is what she needs the most. Even if she may be a spy, the spy can be useful for those mechanical problems and could give accidental hints on the way.

Fiona sighed, “Fine, you can join me, I guess…”

The mechanic practically squealed and followed her steps, “That’s great! I promise I wouldn’t be in the way! In fact, I’ll just keep my mouth shut if that’s what you want.”

Fiona exits out of the junkyard and slowly walks, “No, no, it’s fine. Don’t let me stop you, go crazy with the talking. I like to know what kind of person I’m following.”

“Oh ok, cool! So…” The mechanic paused, “You’re Alex Hawthorne, am I right?”

“Do you want the half-truth or keep the lie?”

“I prefer the truth?”

“It’s Fiona Blanc.” In which, it wasn’t exactly wrong but it’s not like the mechanic would’ve known the difference. “Just call me Fiona though, that’s the name people usually more familiar with or people used to be.”

“Fiona, huh?” She nodded, “Why did you lie and tell Mr. Tobson that your name is Alex Hawthorne?”

“I’m hiding my identity from the government because I know their secret about them working with the aliens that are making hybrid babies out of us and their kind. That way, they can use them as a secret weapon for the upcoming war against the whole world so they can conquer it and run a perfect species.”

The mechanic stands there frozenly and rapidly blinks at Fiona, “What.”

Fiona grins widely, “I’m messing with you.” She whispered under her breath, “Kinda.”

The mechanic took a breather, “Oh thank the law! I thought you were one of those crazy conspiracists! Knew this one guy that came over who believed that he got an alien gun and wanted me to fix it. He told me the whole story of how he ripped the tentacle off of one of those aliens and was able to steal their gun with a perfect escape but had to leave everyone else behind. That’s why he’s wearing an eyepatch now.”

“Is that so?” She raised a notepad, “What did this alien look like?”

“I dunno, he just told me it was purple and stuff. I wasn’t really listening, I was just trying to fix his gun. It looked like any other laser pistol around Halcyon, I don’t get what was so fancy about this one.”

Fiona wrote down in her notepad: ‘Purple and stuff? Real or just another drug-induced person? An actual alien gun? High tech? Low tech? Or the same tech as us? Or literally using our stuff to cover tracks?’ She closed the notepad, “Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem? I don’t see how it can be useful, but you’re welcome I guess.”

“So…” Fiona cleared her voice, “What’s your name? I heard it was something Holcomb but honestly, I didn’t catch it.”

“Oh, it’s Parvati, ma’am.”

She nodded, “Parvati…” It was no name she was really familiar with, but she can admire that actually stood out to her than the name, ‘Fiona’. She can bet right now, there are at least five other people around this colony out there with that name. “It’s a cool name.”

“Really? Thanks, I don’t really think too much about my name."

**…**

Fiona and her new partner entered the town’s bar, she reported back to the man and the payment was fine but he had another task for her in hand. Apparently, Ludwig hid his gun under the bar’s toilet so that the machines wouldn’t find it, the last place a machine has any business going. They walked to the narrow path beside the bar with two doors on the side.

“This whole mission is a bit ridiculous,” Parvati answered and stared at the bathroom door, “Seriously, I knew Ludwig was a bit...off, but not like this…” She turned to Fiona, “What about you--what are you doing?”

Fiona squinted her eyes towards the locks and was kneeling on the ground with a blue magpick, attempting to figure out how she exactly unlocked a door like she picked the lock from that crate last time. She whispered to Parvati, “Why do they make these the most alienate thing in the world? Were simple lockpicks too mainstream or what?”

“Oh, well I guess because these metal doors are mechanically built differently around here than simple wooden doors or even old traditional metal doors.” Parvati whispered, “But what doesn’t answer my question is what are you doing over there?”

“What does it look like? I’m unlocking the bathroom door. I don’t know why the hell you guys lock your bathroom doors but not your front doors.”

Parvati turned over to the door in front of her with a bathroom symbol on it, “Ma’am, are you seeing things? This _is_ the bathroom door.”

Fiona rotated her head and saw Parvati pointing the door in front of her, all she did was raise an eyebrow, “That’s the bathroom door? They could’ve at least put a sign on it.”

“There _is_ a sign on it.”

“Oh…” Fiona stood there in surprise and questioned, “Well, is it a male bathroom? It would’ve been pointless to point that out if it’s the girls’ restroom.”

“It’s a unisex bathroom, ma’am, it doesn’t really matter. You can clearly read that on the door.”

“Huh…” The door in front of Fiona unlocks for her, “I guess, it doesn’t really matter because I broke in anyways. Thanks for dumbass luck.”

“C’mon, we shouldn’t be stealing. It’s not right! People got a business to live!”

Fiona sighed, “Fine, but I’m keeping it unlocked. Mainly because I don’t know how to lock it back.” She walked towards Parvati and looked at Parvati, “Well, let’s head to the restroom together.” She opens the door and watches Parvati enter the small restroom, she walks inside the bathroom and sees a small white toilet. “Well, that looks uncomfortable.”

“Kinda is but you get used to it.”

“I guess that beats pissing on the bush.” She mumbled to herself, “I have been doing that for at least two days now…”

“I heard the gun is around the toilet, want me to take a look?”

“Nah, nah, I’ll get it.” Fiona steps forward to the toilet and bends down, she scans around the toilet and hoping she finds the object. She turned to the back of the toilet and couldn’t tell the pixelated darkness behind the toilet was messing her up or the continuous black spots blocking almost every vision she can have. “I don’t see anything, maybe you should get a good look.”

Fiona gets up from the ground and leans back from the toilet, letting Parvati enough room to inspect the weapon. Instantly, Parvati grabbed the gun from the toilet and revealed the weapon to Fiona. “I found it, it wasn’t hard to find it!”

“Huh…” All Fiona can do is just nod, “Well, that’s great, we should return it to the guy though. Maybe I can get to eat three meals today instead of one or two. Although the salt tuna literally tastes like fish feet.”

“Ma’am, I have a question for you.”

Fiona turns to her, “What is it?”

“I don’t mean to be rude and I’m no doctor, but...have you considered going to a doctor about your eyes?”

Fiona smiled, “Actually yeah, I have. Honestly, I always had bad eyesight since...practically forever and I was supposed to get my glasses back. However, _someone_ didn’t get it.” She sighed, “I’m being harsh, actually, he didn’t know. I wanted to see a doctor here, but apparently, the doc left, and even then, I will need a very specific kind of glasses to work well and they’re often very expensive. At this point, fuck it, I’ll just go around the world nearly blind with black spots everywhere. It’s been working well for me so far.”

“Oh gosh, I didn’t know!” Parvati holds tightly on the weapon, “It must be tough for you to go out every day and I’m surprised you can do this well. I just can’t imagine dealing with that every single day. And...how do you even fight marauders? Surely you can’t just shoot them aimlessly all the time.” She laughed at herself, remembering the saber, “Well, I guess that’s why you need your saber.”

“Parvati, don’t worry about me. I’m doing fine, and besides,” Fiona closed her eyes and rubbed her eyes quickly, she could see the clear sincere worried face on the mechanic. Maybe, it wasn’t a bad idea to have her around. “I found out that if I just rub my eyes well enough, I can actually see really well for whatever reason in a time limit. And oh my god!” Fiona turned to the toilet, “I didn’t know the toilet was _this_ small! And dirty! I think the bushes were better than this monstrosity, no one deserves this kind of evil.”

Parvati smiled, “Wow, that’s a weird ability but at least you can see for a bit! But how come?”

Fiona shrugged, “Dunno, but I’m not complaining. Let’s head out, stuff the weapon somewhere private.”

Parvati hid the gun and followed Fiona out of the bar, “Hey, before we could see Ludwig, I was hoping we could see the vicar. I’m assuming since you still want to get out of here and doing that job Mr.Tobson offers you.”

“Well, of course, I do but why do you need to see him?”

“He can help us to know what we can do to help everyone out at the end.”

“What is this guy anyway? I kinda hear about this guy and it sounds like he got some power around here. Is he a preacher? I'm honestly not into religion, churches make me feel uncomfortable.”

“Well, kinda but I swear, he’s kind! At least to me!”

Fiona sighed and licked her dry lips, “Fine, I’ll go but I swear the moment I feel chills, I'm out the door!”

Parvati nodded, “It’s going to be fine, you have nothing to worry about!”

Fiona followed Parvati steadily to the interesting fancy building, one mystical location that completely stood out from the filth of the town. Staring upon lavish blue panels holding the ceiling and a blue flooring in front of the entrance with her clear eyes, she can see inside of the building were tree branches holding onto a transcendental round glimmer ball. For a half-second, she believed Parvati was taking her to some magical school instead of a church.

 _‘This is no church I have ever seen before, that’s for sure.’_ Fiona thought as she was pressing her hand on the silk of the panel, _‘I’ll give it points for originality, I give it that.’_

They entered inside the clean building and Fiona couldn’t but simply admire the decoration and the firing glow of the building, there was a large wooden symbol on the floor that she couldn’t understand. She spins around the room, too distracted to listen to what Parvati has said to her and her mind begins to cloud away. It felt like those times back in her childhood, she used to explore her mind in books outside of the home. A place she wouldn't have thought to see in the real world, but only in books.

“Fancy seeing you here, nude lady.” Fiona turned around and stared down at a dirty-blonde middle-aged man with a small smile across his face, “Nice to see you in a pair of clothes. Did you get the book I requested?”

“You two know each other?” Parvati questioned.

“Not really…” She raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me, but who are you?”

“Oh, you know, ‘some freak who watches girls wash’.”

Fiona smirked and now instantly recognizes him, “Funny, the peeper is a preacher. You know, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest actually.”

Parvati awkwardly coughs in the conversation, “Um, I’m sorry to interrupt but I’m a bit confused.”

The vicar explained, “While I was searching for a certain book, I came across a half-naked woman throwing herself into the water. I was scared that it may have been a suicide attempt so I ran to see if the woman was ok, but she just stared at me emotionlessly as if I interrupted something.”

Fiona continues, “Which you did, I was trying to clean myself naturally since I smelled like cheap alcohol and dried up blood. Then seeing some random man walking up to me in my current state got me a little nervous, I usually like to think of the worst to happen.” She turned to Parvati, “We talked a bit and he asked me for some journal, I guess. In which, I actually do.” Fiona pulls the journal out of her pouch, “Have fun with that. It caused my sword to kinda break.”

He grabbed onto the book, “Thank you, here’s your reward.” He handles the money to Fiona and examines the book thoroughly.

Staring at the book made her curious about what was all the fuss about, especially after she looked inside the book to see if it had some government secrets. Fiona decided to pry some answers, “Why is this book so important anyway? It’s just some random journal that I couldn’t even read except a couple of words.”

“It’s a banned heretical book—wait, did you just say you couldn’t read it?”

She shrugged and shook her head, “Only a couple.”

He quickly opened up the hardcover and flipped to the first page, his eyes widened at the words on the pages, “It’s-it’s in French… I can’t fucking read French!” Fiona instantly burst into laughter from the sudden change of attitude, covering her face from her obvious enjoyment of the situation as the man went on a rant. She barely heard a word he said from her laughter. After his rant, the man draws his attention to Fiona, “Well, at least _someone_ is having a good time out of this situation.”

Fiona tries to stop her laughter, “Well, I can't help but laugh at the sudden outburst you just had.”

The vicar sighed after a long pause, “And how old are you?”

She immediately stopped laughing and coughing her lungs out from the laughter. She answered, “Twenty-nine.”

“That explains your sense of humor.”

She rolled her eyes, “Whatever, old-timer. I didn't ask you to critique my sense of humor.” She mumbled to herself, "Even though I know that it's pretty awful..." She turned back to the man, "However, I'm going to leave now. It's your problem now."

"Wait!" He shouted before she faced the door, "Do you have a ship by any means?"

She nodded, "Let me guess: You want me to take you in to go on a wild goose chase to find a translator?"

"In a sense, yes."

She sighed, "And why would I want you on my ship? How can I even trust you? I don't know you. Who knows, you may throw a temper tantrum because the sky was a wrong shade of blue that day. Worst, you may be a government spy who has been watching me over the years and this whole book thing was a convenient way to get into my ship."

"Well, aren't you paranoid..."

"Paranoid? I'm just no fool to let any random person inside my ship that may stab me in my sleep."

He laughed, "Stab you in your sleep? Why will I do that?"

"I dunno, but you still haven't given me a good reason why I should let you in and I’m tempted to leave right now."

He sighed, "We can start for one: I can give you free spiritual counseling, I believe you need it more than anyone I know."

She raised an eyebrow, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm also good at computers."

"How funny, I just so happen to be good at computers as well."

"Well," Parvati spoke up, "He can be a major help for computers you can't read, I know you have your eye trick but I'm pretty sure there's a limit to that. At least until it starts hurting your eyes instead of helping it."

She sighed and mumbled to herself, "Fuck…” She stared down at the vicar with a long salty look, “Okay, fine then but you better be damn exceptional on them and they’re the most important thing around the colony or so help me god..."

“I assure you that I’ll be a great assistance in your crew, I can also help you in combat and talk my way with people.”

Her eyes widen, “Does every fucking person in this world knows how to fight or it’s just you people? Is this the new norm? Is this a new requirement for every job application? I just learned how to swing with a sword at someone just two days ago!”

Parvati chuckled, “I believe it’s just us two…”

The vicar answered, “I have learned it from experience.”

She squints her eyes at him, “What kind of experience?”

“Personal experience.”

She nodded, “Touche…”

“Well, I’ll be packing my things then as soon as possible.”

“Unfortunately the ship ain’t working, it needs some power to work so I give you a holler when I get the ship fixed.” She clears her voice, “Parvati wanted to talk to you anyways. Not me, this place is too wizardry for my liking.”

“What.” Parvati quickly turned around and was surprised. “I thought you were going to talk to him…”

“Technically I was, but you are the one who kinda brought me here in the first place. Plus,” She patted her rumbling stomach, “I’m starving, I haven’t eaten all day and this conversation is killing me.”

Parvati sighed, “Fine, but you owe me!”

Fiona eagerly nodded, “Awesome, I gotta go.”

**…**

_“It’s not the best choice! It's a Spacer's Choice!”_

“Ugh!” She let out a loud groan and rolled her eyes to the irritating sound of the company’s jingle from the vendor. She peel down the banana and took a large bite down it, she felt like she was starving to death all the time since she first ate something. She just had six cans of their nauseating salt tuna under an hour (since it was the cheapest thing that she could buy) and her stomach was still rumbling for anything to store. She can kill for some delicious large steaming pepperoni pizza with melted buttered cheese in the garlic crust and long cinnamon sticks with frosting drips on the side, a large cold can of bubbling sweet beverage to wash all of it down smoothly.

 _‘I really shouldn't be thinking about pizza at this time of my life. I don’t even think they have pizza. Fuck me, damn…’_ She chugs down an energy drink, _‘I hope at the end of all this business this guy—well, Phineas to be more accurate—we can get pizza somewhere. I dunno, get some Domino’s or something. I need to stop.’_

“Hey, Fiona!” She faced Parvati walking up towards her, just coming out from the church of Hogwarts. She let out a massive burp from the energy drink and stopped leaning on the trash, this was not the best way to keep a long-term friendship or at least impress a government spy. “Are you feeling okay? Did you get full?”

Fiona exhaled, “I'm still kinda hungry but I do feel a lot better than before.” She threw the plastic bottle into the trash can, “At least, I have the decency to throw leftover trash away in the trash can.” She stood up tall and crossed her arms, “So, what did you two talk about?”

“Oh nothing much really, well he had this great advice to help out both Edgewater and the deserters!”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow, “How?”

“Well, I believe he did say we need to talk to them, negotiate with them? I was sort of aching to leave at that point so I don’t remember, sorry. I don’t know how you do it.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t either…” She had a small grin for a second, “Listen, it’s no problem for what you did, I did put you in an uncomfortable spot, did I?” Parvati nodded. Fiona stared down at the ground and smiled shyly, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have bail like that. I was kind of over that conversation and I haven’t eaten all day so yeah…”

“Hey, no sweat! I always panic when I’m there, it’s just too...clean.”

Fiona bobs her head, “Exactly, it’s too damn clean! It’s just uncomfortable and makes me feel like I’m on the spot. But let’s be honest with each other, Parvati.” Fiona paused for a second, “Did you see how red his face got? Damn, I thought he was going to explode when he saw me laughing… How could I _not_ laugh?”

Parvati chuckled, “Yeah, yeah I did.”

“Well, we should head out of this place. It looks like the sun is setting down and I wanna get this over with as soon as possible. After that, I’m hoping the man has another job for us so that I still have an honest job and not restore killing marauders for small bits.”

“Are you really going to be traveling with him? You don’t have to answer, of course…”

Fiona paused for a moment, “I guess so, I mean he can be useful but I have a feeling he’s keeping something away from me. I dunno what exactly but I just have a feeling of something’s wrong. Oh, by the way…” Fiona pulled out a can of salt tuna from her pouch, “Free salt tuna as my formal apology for leaving ya.”

Parvati grabbed the can, “Thanks.”

“No problem, let’s get going.”


End file.
